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EXCHANGE 
APR  2  1928 


The  Psychological  Aspect 

of  the  Doctrines  of 

Sin  and  Salvation 


By   Inman  L.  Willcox 


A  dissertation  submitted  to  the  faculty 
of  Clark  University,  Worcester,  Mass., 
in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 
for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy, 
and  accepted  on  the  recommendation 
of  President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Ph.  D., 
LL.  D, 


OXFORD.  N.  Y. 

THE  TIMES  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CMMX 


The  Psychological  Aspect 

of  the  Doctrines  of 

Sin  and  Salvation 


By   Inman  L.  Willcox 


A  dissertation  submitted  to  the  faculty 
of  Clark  University ,  Worcester,  Mass. , 
in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 
for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy, 
and  accepted  on  the  recommendation 
of  President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Ph.  D., 
LL.  D. 


OXFORD,  N.  Y. 

THE  TIMES  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CMMX 


: 


EXCHANGE 


The  Psychological  Aspect  of  the  Doctrines  of 
Sin  and  Salvation 

INTRODUCTION 

Dogmas  Adapted  to  their  Age 

KNOWLEDGE  is  fundamental  to  faith.  •  Doctrine  is  essen^ 
tial  to  conduct.  It  is  a  misfortune  that  doctrinal -preacn,- 
ing  has  declined.  There  is  need  of 'a  revival  »G£- doctrinal 
preaching;  not  so  much  the  preaching  of  dottrifiCG,  as  pYeacliirig 
based  upon  doctrine.  This  is  practical  preaching.  An  import- 
ant reason  for  this  loss  of  interest  in  the  Christian  doctrines  is 
the  fact  that  the  present  age  has  made  such  marvelous  progress 
in  every  branch  of  scientific  knowledge  and  that  as  a  consequence 
the  older  ideas  and  forms  of  the  Christian  doctrines  no  longer  fit 
the  actual  conditions  of  life  and  truth  in  which  men  are  living 
and  thinking  today.  A  restatement  is  necessary.  Doctrine 
must  be  adapted  to  the  age. 

The  value  of  a  doctrine  does  not  so  much  depend  upon  its 
truth,  as  upon  men's  faith  in  it.  This  finds  abundant  illustra- 
tion in  Christian  Science  and  Faith  Cures  and  in  the  use  of 
charms  and  fetiches.  Belief  in  these  things  creates  new  psychic 
states  and  produces  a  new  course  of  conduct.  On  the  other 
hand  actual  truths  of  science  have  produced  no  such  results  be- 
cause men  did  not  believe  them.  This  is  just  as  true  of  the 
Christian  doctrines. 

Essential  Prelimary  Points 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  thesis  to  consider  only  the  doctrines 
of  sin  and  salvation.  It  will,  however,  be  helpful  in  getting  a 
correct  approach  to  these  doctrines,  to  have  a  right  conception 
of  several  important  general  subjects.  For  this  purpose  I  make 
the  following  concise  statements: 

i.      The  Idea  of  God 

A  right  conception  of  God  is  essential  to  a  correct  statement 
of  the  Christian  doctrines.  The  older  theologians  emphasized 
the  transcendence  of  God.  God  was  above  and  separate  from 
the  world.  This  notion  influenced  their  ideas  of  man  and  the 


A  ft 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 


world.  Now  we  believe  just  as  much  in  the  immanence  of  God. 
God  is  in  the  world.  He  is  spirit  and  life,  truth  and  love.  In 
him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  This  idea  of  God 
gives  a  new  point  of  view  to  many  of  the  doctrines. 

2.      The  Bible  as  a  Revelation  from  God 

It  is  equally  important  to  have  a  correct  idea  of  the  Scrip- 
ii i res  as  acirkvelation  from  God.  In  the  past  men  believed  that 
God  dictated'  the  "Bible  in  its  present  form  through  the  agency  of 
'h-j  Holy  Spirii:,  thus!  making  it  free  from  all  error  and  every 
part  of  equal  value. 

We  can  no  longer  hold  this  view  of  the  Bible.  It  leaves  the 
human  element  entirely  out  of  account.  God  can  impart  truth 
to  man  only  through  man  and  according  to  the  stage  of  his  de- 
velopment. The  Bible  presents  a  true  picture  of  man's  mental 
and  moral  development  at  the  time  he  received  it.  It  is  the  pro- 
gressive revelation  of  God  and  his  truth  in  the  unfolding  life  of 
a  race. 

The  modern  view  of  the  Bible  was  finely  put  by  Henry 
Drummond  in  his  address  at  the  World's  Parliament  of  Religions 
in  these  words:  "The  question  of  Revelation  is  undergoing  a  sim- 
ilar expansion.  The  whole  order  of  Nature,  the  course  of  hu- 
man history  are  seen  to  be  only  part  of  the  manifold  revelation 
of  God.  As  to  the  specific  revelation,  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  evolution  has  already  given  the  world  what 
amounts  to  a  new  Bible.  *  *  *  The  New  Bible  is  a  book 
whose  parts,  though  not  of  unequal  value,  are  seen  to  be  of 
different  kinds  of  value;  where  the  causal  is  distinguished  from 
the  essential;  the  local  from  the  universal;  the  subordinate  from 
the  primal  end.  The  Bible  is  not  a  book  which  has  been  made; 
it  has  grown.  Hence,  it  is  no  longer  a  mere  word-book,  nor  a 
compendium  of  doctrines,  but  a  nursery  of  growing  truths.  It 
is  not  an  even  plane  of  proof-texts  without  proportion  or  em- 
phasis, or  light  and  shade,  but  a  revelation  varied  as  nature  with 
the  divine  in  its  hidden  parts,  in  its  spirit,  its  tendencies,  its  ob- 
scurities and  its  omissions.  Like  nature,  it  has  successive  strata 
and  valley  and  hill-tops  and  atmosphere  and  rivers,  which  are 
flowing  still,  and  here  and  there  a  place  which  is  desert  and 
fossils,  too,  whose  crude  forms  are  the  stepping  stones  to  higher 


DOCTRINES  OF  SlX  AND  SALVATION 


things.  It  is  a  record  of  inspired  deeds,  as  well  as  of  inspired 
words,  an  ascending  series  of  inspired  facts  in  a  matrix  of  human 
history."  (i) 

The  following  statement  from  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  presents 
an  enlightening  view  of  the  Bible:  "It  is,  however,  our  great 
good  fortune  to  live  in  an  age  when  our  Bible  is  being  slowly 
re-revealed  as  the  best  utterance  and  reflex  of  the  nature  and 
needs  of  the  soul  of  man,  as  his  great  text-book  in  psychology, 
dealing  with  him  as  a  whole,  body,  mind,  heart  and  will,  and  all 
in  the  largest  and  deepest  relation  to  nature  and  to  his  fellow 
man,  which  has  been  so  misunderstood  simply  because  it  has 
been  so  deeply  divine."  (2) 

j.      The  Origin  and  Nature  of  Man 

Sin  and  salvation  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  nature 
of  man.  Scientific  evidence  now  shows  clearly  that  the  old  the- 
ological conception  of  man  is  not  the  true  one.  Too  much  was 
taken  from  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis  and  this  was  due  to  an 
erroneous  conception  of  the  Bible  itself.  A  true  notion  of  sin 
and  salvation  can  not  be  reached  by  starting  from  the  "Creation 
Theory",  that  the  first  man  was  perfect  and  capable  of  the  high- 
est moral  judgments.  The  Bible  as  a  whole  does  not  sustain 
this  theory.  All  historical  evidence  shows  that  man  has  slowly 
developed  from  a  very  primitive  type  up  to  his  present  state. 
This  view  will  help  us  to  reach  a  true  idea  of  the  real  nature  of 
sin  and  salvation. 

4.      A  Definition  of  Life 

Another  essential  is  a  true  definition  of  life.  The  biolog- 
ical definition  of  life  fulfills  all  the  conditions  the  best  of  any. 
This  is  Herbert  Spencer's  definition:  "Life  is  the  continuous 
adjustment  of  internal  relations  to  external  relations.  (3)" 

W.  H.  Brooks  says:  "Life  is  response  to  the  order  of  nature." 
Dr.  C.  F.  Hodge  makes  this  significant  statement  in  his  Nature 
Study  and  Life:  "If  life  is  response  to  the  order  of  nature,  the 
higher  and  more  complete  the  response,  the  higher  and  richer 

(1)  World's  Parliament  of  Religions.     P.  1324. 

(2)  Adolescence.     Vol.  II.  P.  321. 

(3)  Prin.  of  Biology.     Vol.  1.  P.  74. 


6  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL. ASPECT  OF  T.HE  •• ---v' 

must  be  the  life.  Since  response  presupposes  knowledge,  na- 
ture study  must  take  its  place  in  public  education  as  one  of  the 
chief  means  by  which  the  race  may  push  forward  towards  the 
more  perfect  response  to  the  order  of  nature,  which  shall  be  its 
more  perfect  life."  (i)  Man's  environment  is  an  essential  part  of 
his  life.  Man  lives  his  physical  life  in  relations  with  the  physical 
world,  his  social  and  moral  life  in  relations  with  other  men,  and 
his  religious  life  in  relations  with  God. 

A  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN 

The  doctrine  ot  sin  forms  the  background  of  the  other  great 
Christian  doctrines.  Our  conception  of  sin  will  determine  our 
idea  of  salvation.  Progress  in  knowledge  has  made  it  necessary 
and  possible  to  modify  the  older  conceptions  of  sin.  On  the  sub- 
ject of  evolution  and  sin  Henry  Drummond  has  written  with  fine 
insight:  "Not  least  in  interest  also  is  a  possible  contribution 
from  science  on  some  of  the  more  practical  problems  of 
Soteriology  and  the  doctrine  of  sin.  On  the  last  point  the  sug- 
gestion of  evolution  that  sin  may  be  the  relic  of  the  animal  of 
man,  the  undestroyed  residuum  of  the  animal  and  the  savage 
ranks  at  least  as  an  hypothesis,  and  with  proper  safeguards  may 
one  day  yield  some  glimmering  light  to  Theology  on  its  oldest 
and  darkest  problem.  If  this  partial  suggestion  can  be  followed 
out  to  any  purpose,  the  result  will  be  of  much  greater  than  spec- 
ulative interest.  For  if  science  can  help  us  in  any  way  to  know 
how  sin  came  into  the  world,  it  may  help  us  better  to  know  how 
to  get  it  out.  Even  to  diagnose  it  more  thoroughly  will  be  a 
gain.  Sin  is  not  a  theme  to  be  expounded  only  through  a  med- 
ium of  proof  texts;  it  is  to  be  studied  from  life,  to  be  watched 
biologically,  and  followed  out  through  all  its  psychological 
states.  A  more  accurate  analysis,  a  better  understanding  of  its 
genesis  and  nature,  may  modify  some  at  least  of  the  attempts 
now  being  made  to  get  rid  of  it,  whether  in  the  national  or  in- 
dividual life,  which  are  as  futile  as  they  are  unscientific.  But 
the  time  is  not  ripe  to  speak  with  other  than  the  greatest  caution 
and  humility  of  these  still  tremendous  problems."  (2) 

(1)  Prin.  of  Biology.     Vol.  1.  P.  15. 

(2)  World's  Parliament  of  Religions.     P.  1325. 


DOCTRINES  O'F  SIN  AND  SALVATION 


I.      Sin  Defined 

Sin  involves  so  many  relations  and  must  be  viewed  from  so 
many  different  angles  that  a  complete  definition  of  it  can  not  be' 
given  in  a  single  statement.  It  is  like  looking  at  a  great  cath- 
edral or  a  living  organism  or  a  complex  society.  Only  a  small 
part  can  be  seen  at  once.  Still  it  will  be  helpful  to  have  a  gen- 
eral idea  of  its  essential  nature  before  the  mind  while  consider- 
ing its  nature  and  character  more  in  detail. 

Sin  is  the  trangression  of  any  natural  or  spiritual  law,  or 
disobedience  of  any  divine  command.  This  transgression  or 
disobedience  may  be  conscious  or  unconscious,  voluntary  or  in- 
voluntary. In  every  case,  consequences  or  penalties  follow  the 
transgression  or  disobedience.  When  these  are  conscious  and 
voluntary,  guilt  is  a  part  of  the  penalty.  The  transgression  or 
disobedience  may  be  in  thought,  feeling,  will,  conduct,  or  in  all 
of  these  at  once. 

In  the  broadest  sense  every  natural  and  spiritual  law  is  a 
divine  law  and  represents  a  divine  command.  In  this  sense,  the 
transgression  of  any  law  in  the  natural  or  spiritual  world  is  sin. 
So  there  must  be  many  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  sin.  Sin 
is  a  misfit  between  man  and  his  environment.  It  is  a  violation 
of  the  laws  and  conditions  of  his  life.  If  a  man  obeyed  all  the  laws 
and  fulfilled  all  the  conditions  of  the  natural  and  spiritual  world 
in  which  he  lives,  he  would  establish  a  perfect  correspondence 
between  himself  and  his  environment.  He  would  live  without 
sin.  Jesus  lived  such  a  life.  Righteousness  is  life.  Sin  is 
death. 

Many  theologians  have  given  definitions  and  descriptions  of 
sin.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  these  are  partial  and  incomplete. 
Ritschl  says:  "Sin  is  the  negative  presupposition  of  reconcilia- 
tion, since  we  have  to  comprehend  the  fact  of  sin  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  reconciled  community.  The  gospel  of  the  forgiveness 
of  our  sin  is  actually  the  ground  of  our  knowledge  of  our  sinful- 
ness."  (i)  Julius  Mtiller  defines  it  thus:  "Sin  is  a  fact  which 
we  can  not  deny."  "The  moral  law  is  supreme  and  governs  the 
human  will.  Sin  is  a  violation  of  the  moral  law."  "The  sub- 
jective element  of  the  free-will  is  necessarily  in  the  very  essence 

(i)    The  Christian  Doctrine  of  Justification  and   Reconciliation.     P.  337. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 


of  sin."  "God  is  the  author  of  the  moral  law.  Sin  as  trans- 
gression of  the  moral  law  is  also  disobedience  against  God."  (i) 
Julius  Kaftan:  "Sin  is  always  the  transgression  of  the  will  of  the 
Godhead.  The  idea  of  sin  is  always  shaped,  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  the  knowledge  of  the  divine  will  which  a  person  has  or  be- 
lieves he  has. "  (2)  Gustav  Biederman:  "But  reviling  the  Spirit 
is  sin.  At  bottom  all  sins  are  spiritual,  a  rebellion  against  the 
Spirit  in  his  holiness.  Neither  nature  nor  man  unconscious  of  it 
are  sinful."  (3) 

In  general,  sin  is  defined  as  a  direct,  conscious  act  of  diso- 
bedience of  God's  will  or  command.  Many  metaphorical  defi- 
nitions have  been  given,  such  as:  "Sin  is  selfishness."  '/Sin  is 
ignorance."  "Sin  is  imperfection  or  incompleteness."  "Sin  is 
a  negation."  But  sin  is  something  more  than  any  one  of  these 
statements  asserts. 

II.      The  Origin  of  Sin 

The  biblical  authors  with ;  few  exceptions  have  not  under- 
taken to  explain  the  origin  of  sin.  In  Genesis  we  have  the  story 
of  Adam's  first  sin.  St.  Paul  refers  to  this  account  in  his  ex- 
planation. His  statements  on  the  subject  are  made,  however, 
in  connection  with  another  argument.  Jesus,  himself,  has  very 
little  to  say  on  the  origin  of  sin.  He  does  say  that  evil  thoughts, 
words  and  deeds  proceed  from  within,  that  evil  fruit  comes  from 
an  evil  tree,  that  man  is  defiled  by  that  which  proceeds  out  of 
the  mouth,  and  that  all  manner  of  evil  comes  out  of  the  heart. 
They  all  assume  sin  as  a  fact  which  no  one  will  deny.  The 
statements  of  Jesus  do  associate  sin  with  the  very  nature  of  man. 
He  accepts  it  as  a  fact  that  it  is  natural  for  man  to  sin. 

For  the  most  part  theologians  have  taken  their  explanation 
of  the  origin  of  sin  from  the  story  in  Genesis  and  the  writings  of 
St.  Paul.  There  are  two  radically  different  views  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

Augustine  and  his  followers  held  that  sin  came  into  the 
world  through  a  disobedience  of  a  direct  command  of  God  by 
Adam.  It  was  an  act  of  free  choice.  By  it  man's  whole  nature 
was  made  corrupt  and  sinful. 

-      (»)    Christian  Doctrine  of  Sin.     Vol.  I.  P.  28.  32,  40,  88. 

(2)  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion.     Vol.  II.   P.  339. 

(3)  Religions  Philosophic  P.  69. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION 


Pelagius  and  his  followers  held  that  the  nature  of  man  has 
in  it  the  very  element  which  makes  sin  necessary.  Not  only 
Adam  but  all  men  have  this  nature.  Some  have  held  that  God 
created  both  the  evil  and  the  good. 

It  is  clear  that  the  theory  of  the  origin  of  sin  has  rested  upon 
the  author's  conception  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  man.  Believ- 
ing that  the  first  man  was  fully  developed,  it  was  natural  to 
think  that  sin  originated  in  a  definite  act  of  disobedience. 
Believing  the  Bible  to  be  the  literal  word  of  God,  theologians 
have  accepted  this  theory  of  the  origin  of  sin  as  historical  fact. 
Our  present  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  Bible  and  of  man's 
origin  and  development  makes  this  traditional  theory  of  the 
origin  of  sin  untenable.  We  can  not  say  that  sin  as  a  con- 
scious, moral  act  began  with  the  first  man.  It  is  much  more  in 
harmony  with  all  the  facts  of  man's  origin  and  development  to 
think  that  sin  has  come  into  existence  along  with  the  evolution 
of  the  moral  consciousness  of  man.  Man  has  always  been  trans- 
gressing the  laws  of  his  own  being  and  of  the  world  in  which  he 
lives.  Man  could  not  consciously  sin  against  God  until  he  be- 
came conscious  of  the  existence  of  God,  and  then  it  would  be 
according  to  his  idea  of  God.  But  the  idea  of  God  has  had  a 
very  long  and  slow  process  of  growth. 

///.      The  Nature  of  Sin 

It  is  fitting  to  consider  first  the  biblical  conceptions  of  the 
nature  of  sin.  E.  R.  Bernard's  article  in  Hasting's  Bible  Dict- 
ionary gives  a  very  complete  analysis  of  the  biblical  idea  of  sin. 
I  give  here  the  leading  facts  as  presented  in  his  article. 

The  early  chapters  of  the  Old  Testament  describe  sin  as  dis- 
obedience to  divine  command  and  as  a  conscious  exercise  of 
human  free-will  in  opposition  to  that  law.  It  does  not  teach  a 
corruption  of  human  nature  on  account  of  Adam's  sin.  It  has 
nothing  to  say  of  the  Fall.  It  does  teach  the  universality  of  sin. 
There  is  a  development  in  the  idea  of  sin,  and  a  great  increase 
and  spread  of  sin.  After  the  flood,  sin  becomes  a  breach  of  cov- 
enant relations.  Unbelief  comes  to  be  the  root  of  sin.  It  is  not 
limited  to  Israel.  Sin  becomes  trangression  of  enacted  law. 
There  is  an  increase  of  sin  with  the  growth  of  moral  sentiment 


io  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

and  also  in  terms  to  express  it.  There  are  four  leading  terms 
used  to  express  different  ideas  of  sin. 

The  general  term  JlKtOp  (chataah)  sin  means  to  miss  the 
mark  or  one's  aim.  This  may  be  against  man  or  God.  T*y  (ayon) 
iniquity,  means  perversion  or  distortion.  It  denotes  the  quality 
of  the  act  and  has  a  sense  of  guilt.  J?^'g(pesha)  trangression, 
means  a  breaking  away  from  the  law  or  covenant  and  so  implies 
a  law  or  lawgiver.  It  implies  a  voluntary  act.  J/£0(resha) 
wickedness,  denotes  that  sin  has  become  a  state  or  habit.  Other 
terms  express  different  shades  of  meaning. 

Under  the  law  sin  meant  much  more  neglect  of  the  ceremon- 
ial regulations  than  moral  transgressions.  There  was  no  dis- 
tinction between  sin  and  crime.  There  was  a  growth  of  law  and 
so  of  sin.  In  the  historical  books  sin  is  departure  from  God, 
and  so  idolatry  is  the  worst  form  of  sin.  The  first  command- 
ment is  very  significant.  This  is  the  chief  idea  of  the  sin  of 
Israel  all  through  Judges  and  Kings.  In  the  later  Prophets  we 
find  the  highest  development  of  the  moral  character  of  Jehovah, 
and  consequently  the  moral  quality  of  sin.  Individualism  was 
developed  by  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel.  In  the  Psalms  the  individ- 
ual and  emotional  element  comes  out  strongly.  Sin  is  personal 
impurity.  In  Proverbs  sin  is  folly  and  righteousness  is  wisdom. 
In  Job  there  is  the  greatest  advance.  Sins  are  purely  ethical. 
Sin  is  universal  and  inherent  in  human  nature. 

The  New  Testament  does  not  add  much  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment doctrine  of  sin.  The  New  Testament  writers  seem  to 
adopt  the  Old  Testament  conception.  The  New  Testament 
terminology  corresponds  very  nearly  to  the  Old.  There  are  five 
principal  terms  used. 

cAuaoTia(hamartia)  denotes  sin  as  a  habit  or  state,  a  power 
or  act. 

napd(3aai<;(parabasis)  denotes  trangression  or  trespass.  It 
implies  the  existence  of  law. 

'Avo|Aio(anomia)  stands  for  iniquity  or  violation  of  law. 

'ASixux(adikia)  signifies  sin  against  one's  neighbor,  or  injus- 
tice. 

'Acedia  (asebeia)  denotes  disregard  and  defiance  of  God's 
law  and  person. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION 


Jesus  assumes  the  existence  of  sin  as  a  common  experience. 
He  denounces  three  types  of  sin:  hypocracy,  or  working  to  be  seen 
of  men;  offense  or  stumbling,  keeping  men  away  from  him;  and 
sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit,  calling  his  work  that  of  evil 
spirits. 

Sin  is  greatly  extended  by  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  the- 
law  and  by  the  new  requirements  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
Fourth  Gospel  adds  a  new  sin,  unbelief  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God.  The  Gospels  teach  that  the  revelation  of  a  per- 
fect standard  of  the  life  in  Christ  shows  sin  in  its  true  nature. 
St.  Paul  gives  the  most  extended  doctrine  of  sin  of  any  of  the  New 
Testament  writers.  He  makes  it  hereditary.  For  Paul  the  will 
and, back  of  this,  the  flesh  is  the  seat  of  sin.  Sin  is  a  power 
which  has  gained  place  in  man. 

According  to  the  definition  of  sin  which  I  have  given  there 
must  be  many  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  sin.  If  sin  is  the 
violation  of  any  natural  or  spiritual  law,  then  it  covers  the 
whole  range  of  man's  life.  It  begins  with  the  transgression  of 
physical  laws  and  extends  to  moral  and  spiritual  laws.  Trans- 
gression may  be  conscious  or  unconscious,  voluntary  or  involun- 
tary. In  general  the  same  consequences  follow.  There  are 
moral  qualities  and  effects  in  the  conscious  and  intentional  vio- 
lations of  law  which  are  not  in  the  unconscious  and  involuntary. 
The  point  here  is  that  all  transgressions  are  real.  All  have  their 
consequences.  These  are  the  same  for  the  animal  and  primitive 
man  as  for  the  civilized  man.  This  means  that  the  root  of  sin 
runs  back  into  the  earliest  and  lowest  forms  of  life.  Transgressions 
may  not  properly  be  termed  sins  till  they  come  into  the  con- 
scious and  voluntary  acts  of  man.  In  the  animal  and  primitive 
man  we  do  not  call  such  transgressions  sins.  Therefore  sin  did 
not  begin  in  the  race  with  a  voluntary  act  of  disobedience  by  the 
first  man.  Man  and  his  ancestors  have  always  been  transgress- 
ing the  laws  of  nature  and  society.  In  the  course  of  his  intel- 
lectual and  moral  development  man  became  conscious  that  his 
acts  were  wrong.  Two  elements  have  entered  into  this  con- 
sciousness, subjective  intelligence  and  objective  commands. 
Commandments  and  laws  have  value  only  in  proportion  to  the 
moral  and  intellectual  development  of  man. 


\2  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

IV.      The  Necessity  of  Sin 

According  to  this  conception  of  sin,  it  is  impossible  for  man 
to  live  in  this  world  without  sin.  It  is  a  necessary  element  in 
the  evolution  of  man.  Man  has  not  wisdom  enough  to  obey  all 
the  laws  of  his  own  being  or  of  the  world.  To  say  that  the  first 
man  sinned,  fell  and  corrupted  the  race  is  not  the  true  explana- 
tion of  existing  facts.  When  Oehler  says:  "Man  can  pass  from 
a  state  of  innocence  into  the  possession  of  moral  character  only 
by  an  act  of  self-determination.  It  follows  according  to  the  Old 
Testament  that  sin  is  not  a  necessary  factor  in  the  development 
of  a  man,  but  a  product  of  free  choice,"  (i)  he  by  no  means  takes 
account  of  all  the  facts  in  the  case.  Man  did  not  begin  in  a 
state  of  innocency,  and  he  can  not  pass  from  innocence  to  moral 
character  by  one  act. 

Jesus  does  not  condemn  men.for  being  sinners.  He  makes 
it  his  supreme  work  to  deliver  men  from  sin.  He  accepted  sin 
as  a  necessary  element  in  human  nature  to  be  dealt  with.  He 
condemned  those  who  said  that  they  had  no  sin. 

The  Hegelian  School  is  right  in  holding  that  sin  is  a  neces- 
sary condition  of  the  development  of  the  human  spirit.  This  is 
to  see  the  world  as  it  is. 

Van  Oostersee  says:  "Sin  does  not  consist  in  this,  that  we 
are  not  yet  that  which  we  must  become;  but  rather  in  this,  that 
we  are  just  the  opposite  of  what  we  ought  to  be."  (2)  Man  is  not 
the  opposite  of  what  he  ought  to  be  at  the  present  time.  He  is 
in  the  process  of  becoming  what  he  ought  to  be.  Jesus  did  not  con- 
demn men  for  being  what  they  were,  but  for  refusing  to  improve. 

Martensen  expresses  this  important  fact:  "The  possibility 
of  temptation  lies  in  the  fact  that  there  exists  a  world  outside 
God,  which  can  be  mistaken  for  God — a  resplendent  glory 
which  can  be  preferred  to  God,  and  that  this  two-sidedness 
repeats  itself  in  man's  own  nature."  (3)  Is  he  justified  in  in- 
ferring that  man  has  consciously  chosen  the  world  in  the  place 
of  God?  Man  has  accepted  the  world  in  a  natural  way.  He  did 
not  know  God. 

(1)  Old  Testament  Theology. 

(2)  Christian  Dogmatics.     Vol.  II.     P.  339. 

(3)  Christian  Dogmatics.     P.  155. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  13 

Dr.  Fairbairn  says:  ''Sin  signifies  that  man  has  missed  the 
end  for  which  he  was  made;  that  he  is  not  in  character  and 
state,  in  idea  and  reality,  in  act  and  function,  what  he  was 
created  to  be,  and  that  he  himself  is  the  cause  of  his  failure."  (i) 
This  may  all  be  true  and  yet  natural  and  necessary  in  the  pro- 
cess of  man's  evolution  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  stages  of  his 
being.  Dr.  Fairbairn  seems  to  recognize  this  for  he  says:  "This 
thing  we  call  sin  has  come  to  be  in  the  first  act  of  the  drama;  we 
must  see  the  last  before  we  can  judge  what  it  means.  .  .  .  Only 
through  the  possibility  of  sin  could  God  have  sons,  and  it  may 
be  that  only  through  the  actuality  of  sin  could  the  sons  know 
God."  (2) 

A  historical  view  of  the  race  shows  that  the  theological  ex- 
planation of  sin  can  not  be  the  true  one.  The  idea  of  sin  has 
had  an  evolution.  The  biblical  record  shows  this.  Students  of 
Anthropology  have  observed  it.  Primitive  races  have  little 
sense  of  sin. 

This  view  is  confirmed  by  several  of  our  best  authorities  on 
religion.  W.  Robertson  Smith  says:  "The  sense  of  sin  in  the 
ethical  sense  hardly  existed  in  ancient  times.  It  is  of  much  later 
development."  (3)  Julius  Kaftan  says:  "The  moral  conscious- 
ness originates  and  is  developed  in  human  society  by  mutual  re- 
actions." (4)  Harold  Hoffding  makes  this  statement:  "The 
growth  of  the  idea  of  God  has  been  according  to  the  growth  of 
man's  mind.  Religion  is  based  upon  ethical  ideas  and  not  vice 
versa.  In  its  lowest  form  religion  has  no  ethical  significance. 
Ethical  feeling  develops  in  the  struggle  for  life  of  the  individual, 
family,  clan  and  nation.  (5)  He  quotes  Lichtenberg  to  confirm 
his  idea:  "So  wie  die  volker  sich  bessern,  bessern  sich  auch  ihre 
Gotter."  Also  from  Erwin  Rohde:  "Mit  ihren  Gemeinden 
wachsen  die  Gotter."  (6)  This  is  just  as  true  of  the  ethical 
sense  of  sin.  Biederman  in  his  Religions  Philosophic  traces  the 

(1)  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology.     P.  453. 

(2)  Ibid.     P   457- 

(3)  Religion  of  the  Semites. 

(4)  The  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion.     Vol.  II.     P.  540. 

(5)  Philosophy  of  Religion.     P.  323. 

(6)  Ibid.     P.  322. 


14  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

evolution  of  the  idea  of  God  from  the  earliest  beginning  among 
primitive  people  to  the  highest  spiritual  conception  of  Christian- 
ity, and  shows  that  the  idea  of  God  and  religious  development 
is  according  to  the  growth  of  man's  mental  and  spiritual  capac- 
ity. 

In  saying  that  sin  is  necessary,  we  do  not  say  that  it  is  good. 
A  statement  of  Ritschl  makes  this  clear:  "We  must  guard  against 
describing  sin  as  an  operation  of  God  and  a  harmonious  element 
in  his  world  order,  for  in  all  instances  sin  is  the  opposite  of  good, 
and  that  which  runs  counter  to  the  recognizable  moral  end  of 
the  world.  ...  It  is  an  apparently  inevitable  product  of  the 
human  will  under  the  given  conditions  of  its  development,  but 
conscious  as  we  are  of  our  freedom  and  independance,  is  never- 
theless reckoned  by  us  as  guilt."  (i  ) 

Henry  T.  Buckle  in  his  history  of  civilization  has  given  a 
strong  confirmation  of  the  fact  that  sin  is  a  necessary  element  in 
human  society.  He  has  shown  that  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  a 
certain  amount  of  crime  and  sin  of  every  sort  will  be  committed. 
This  is  a  universal  law.  The  reason  is  that  all  actions  are  the 
results  of  certain  antecedents.  These  are  of  two  classes,  the  mind 
of  man  and  external  phenomena.  Quetelet shows  the  same  truth: 
"L'experience  demoutre  en  effet,  avec  tout  1'evidence  possible, 
cette  opinion,  que  pourra  sembler  paradoxale  an  premier  abord, 
que  c'est  la  societe  que  prepare  le  crime,  et  que  le  coupable  n'est 
que  1'  instrument  qui  1'  execute."  (2)  If  these  are  right  then 
sin  and  evil  are  necessary  elements  in  human  society. 

V.      Original  Sin  and  Depravity 

We  are  now  able  to  get  a  truer  idea  of  what  has  been  called 
"Original  Sin"  or  "Depravity."  According  to  theology  this  is  the 
sin  which  each  man  has  in  his  nature  to  begin  life  with.  It  came 
into  the  race  through  Adam's  disobedience  and  has  been  passed 
on  by  inheritance.  In  the  sense  in  which  it  has  been  taught  by 
theology  there  is  no  such  thing. 

We  can  not  accept  Augustine's  idea,  "that  the  sin  of  self- 
vindication  and  disobedience  which  Adam  committed  with  free 


(1)  Justification  and  Reconciliation.     P.  380. 

(2)  Outelet  Sur  1'Homme.     Vol.  II.  P.  325. 


DOCTRINFS  OF  SlN   AND  SALVATION  15 

self-determination  completely  corrupted  his  whole  nature."  (i) 
Nor  this  assertion  of  Van  Oosterzee:  "The  moral  corruption  of 
hnman  nature  has  its  historic  ground  in  the  disobedience  of  our  first 
parents,  who  voluntarily  transgressed  God's  command,  and,  in 
consequence,  have  lost  their  original  purity."  (2)  Auselm's 
celebrated  statement  is  not  true:  "In  Adam  a  person  made  na- 
ture sinful,  in  his  posterity  nature  made  persons  sinful."  (3) 

In  the  first  place  human  nature  is  not  corrupt.  The  ground 
ot  man's  sin  is  not  in  Adam's  disobedience,  but  in  the  nature  of 
things.  Every  child  is  just  as  free  from  moral  corruption  as  the 
first  man.  Each  person  corrupts  his  own  nature  by  repeated  acts 
of  sin.  There  is  that  in  human  nature  which  pre-disposes  every 
person  to  commit  sin.  Choice  is  not  an  isolated,  independent 
act.  It  has  something  behind  it  and  before  it.  The  whole  nature 
of  man  is  behind  choice.  Man's  nature  and  the  world  in  which 
he  lives  makes  sin  necessary.  It  is  not  "original  sin."  The 
history  of  the  race  and  the  facts  of  life  confirm  this  view. 

Ritschl's  view  is  sound:  "  'Original  Sin'  is  not  a  sufficient  ex- 
planation of  sin.  It  does  not  account  for  all  the  facts  and  phe- 
nomena." "Education  is  possible  oniy  on  the  pre-supposition 
that  existing  bad  habits  or  evil  inclinations  have  come  to  exist  as 
the  products  of  repeated  acts  of  will.  From  the  standpoint  of 
original  sin  education  is  unthinkable."  "The  assumption  of 
distinct  degrees  of  evil  in  individuals  is  incompatible  with  the 
dogma  of  original  sin."  (4) 

Soren  Kierkegaard  speaks  sanely  on  this  subject:  "Original 
sin  is  the  present  sinfulness,  and  Adam  the  individual  in  whom 
it  was  not,  yet  it  came  through  him."  (5)  "The  notion  of  the 
first  sin  according  to  tradition  is  the  difference  between  Adam's 
sin  and  the  first  sin  of  every  man.  Adam's  sin  conditions  sin- 
fulness  as  consequence.  Every  other  first  sin  pre-suppases  sin- 
fulness  as  condition.  If  this  were  true,  Adam  would  sin  really 
outside  of  the  race  and  the  race  did  not  begin  with  him,  but  had 

(1)  Schaff-Herzog  Encyl.  of  Relig.  Knowledge      Vol.  4.     P.   2186. 

(2)  Christian  Dogmatics.     Vol.  II.     P    402. 

(3)  Ibid      P.  409. 

(4)  Justification  and  Reconciliation.     P.  337. 

(5)  Zur  Psychologie  der  Sunde.     P.  22. 


1 6  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

its  source  outside  of  him,  which  contradicts  every  notion."  (i) 
That  sin  came  into  the  world  is  entirely  right,  but  that  does 
not  touch  Adam  in  a  special  way.  We  may  say  that  through  the 
first  sin  sinfulness  came  into  Adam.  Now  no  one  would  happen 
to  say  of  any  one  later  man,  that  through  his  first  sin,  sinfulness 
comes  into  the  world,  and  yet  this  comes  into  the  world  in  the 
same  manner.  For  sinfulness  is  in  the  world  only  so  far  as  it 
comes  in  through  sin.  We  can  say  with  the  same  right  of  any 
individual,  that  through  his  first  sin,  sinfulness  is  brought  in."  (2) 

VI.      The  Fall  of  Man 

There  is  need  of  a  re-statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  "Fall 
of  Man."  The  traditional  theory  of  the  "Fall  of  Man"  is  based 
upon  the  mistaken  theory  that  the  first  man  was  created  with  a 
fully  developed  intellectual  and  moral  capacity.  All  the  evidence 
points  to  an  evolutionary  development  of  man.  This  makes  the 
tradional  view  untenable.  The  innocence  of  the  first  rnan  and  of 
every  primitive  man  was  his  unconsciousness  of  sin. 

What  has  actually  happened  is  this :  man  has  always  been  trans- 
gressing laws.  There  came  a  time  in  his  moral  development  when 
he  became  conscious  of  his  transgression.  This  consciousness  of 
his  transgression  was  his  "fall."  But  this  sense  of  a  fall  can  only 
come  with  moral  progress  and  the  higher  the  moral  development 
the  greater  the  fall.  The  real  error  in  the  traditional  theory  was 
in  treating  the  first  man  as  morally  perfect.  Kierkegaard  brings 
out  this  truth:  "Adam  could  not  have  understood  the  command, 
for  he  did  not  know  the  difference  between  good  and  evil  till 
after  the  eating. "  '  'We  need  only  to  perceive  that  Adam  has 
spoken  with  himself.  For  the  imperfection  in  the  narrative 
comes  out,  that  another  speaks  to,  Adam  concerning  something 
that  he  does  not  understand.  (3)" 

The  view  we  have  presented  is  confirmed  by  H.  J.  Holtzmann. 
He  says  that  the  Second  Adam  did  not  obtain  his  righteousness 
by  a  voluntary  act,  neither  did  the  first  man  get  his  sinful  nature 
by  a  voluntary  act  of  disobedience,  but  he  was  already  predis- 

(1)  Ibid  P  25 

(2)  Ibid  P.  29. 

(3)  Zur  Psycholgie  die  Sunde  P.  42. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  1 7 

posed  to  sin.  He  says:  "Paul  not  only  says  'Die  schlange 
tauschte  die  Eva,'  "  but  also  in  connection  with  the  story  of  the 
fall  of  man  he  says:  "Die  Siinde  tauschte  mich."  Here  lies  the 
original  Pauline  turn  of  the  matter.  Paul  is  making  himself  the 
subject  of  that  which  is  related  in  Genesis  3  of  the  original  parents, 
uses  the  myth  as  model,  symbol  and  illustration  for  the  becom- 
ing conscious  of  sin  in  every  individual,  'fur  das  Bewusstwerden 
der  Siinde.' "  (i)  He  makes  this  significant  statement:  "Die 
Sunde  heisst  namlich  'todt,'  so  lange  sie  noch  dem  sittlichen 
Urtheil  nicht  unterstellt  ist,  in  der  Region  .  des  Unbewusten 
bleibt,  als  rein  animalisches  Begehren."  (2) 

Harold  Hoffding  makes  this  important  statement:  "We  can 
not  appeal  to  the  legend  of  the  fall.  How  is  a  fall  possible  if  all 
the  elements  and  individuals  in  existence  were  originally  rooted 
in  an  harmonious  principle?  The  possibility  of  a  fall  is  the  ex- 
pression of  a  discord.  If  Lam  capable. of  sin  tomorrow,  then  I 
am  a  sinner  today.  I  have  in  my  nature  that  which  I  may  do  or 
act  out.  This  is  original  sin."  (3) 

VII.      Sin  as  an  Objective  Power  or  Principle 

Many  theologians  have  believed  and  taught  that  sin  as  a 
principle  or  a  powe'r  of  evil  has  an  objective  and  independent 
existence.  They  hold  that  this-  sinful  principle  has  entered  into 
man  and  corrupted  his  whole  nature. 

Oehler  says:  "The  story  of  Genesis  apparently  presupposes 
an  ungodly  principle  which  has  already  entered  the  world."  (4) 

Van  Oosterzee  describes  it  as  follows:  "The  sinful  principle 
manifests  itself  in  a  transgression  of  law,  which  everywhere  ex- 
hibits the  same  character,  but  under  ever  changing  forms.  Un- 
der all  these  varying  forms,  however,  sin  appears  as  a  fatal 
power,  which  penetrates  and  dominates  the  entire  internal  and 
external  life  of  the  individual  man  and  of  mankind."  (5) 

Martensen  explains  it  thus:  "The  principle  question  still  re- 
mains, namely,  what  is  that  in  the  creation  which  can  tempt  man 

(r)  NewtestameotlL'he  Theologie.     II  Band  P.  42. 

(2)  Ibid  P.  42. 

(3)  The  Phil,  of  Religion.     P.  267. 

(4)  Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  P.  158. 

(5)  Christian  bogmatics      Vol.  II.  P.  423 


1 8  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

to  fall  away  from  God?  We  answer,  it  is  the  cosmical  principle 
itself  considered  in  its  relation  of  opposition  to  God,  the  princi- 
ple of  the  autonomy  of  the  world,  of  the  self-subsistence  of  the 
world."  (i) 

Dr.  Fairbairn  gives  this  explanation:  ''And  so  theology 
finds  in  nature,  as  embodied  in  man,  forces  that  work  for  evil 
in  man,  as  history  shows  him,  tendencies  that  create  crime  and 
wrong;  and  these  are  to  it  agencies  or  energies  that  contend 
against  God,  sinful  and  factors  of  sin.  Theology  were  the  blind- 
est of  all  sciences  if  it  did  not  see  that  evil  was  something  more 
and  mightier  than  the  habits  and  acts  of  persons,  besetting  the 
will  even  before  it  was  awake  with  potent  beguilements."  (2) 

I  can  not  believe  in  such  an  objective  power  or  principle  of 
evil.  The  "Tempter"  of  man  is  not  an  external  evil  power  or 
person.  I  find  no  real  evidence  of  such  a  being  as  a  "personal 
devil."  Evil  has  been  personified  and  the  personification  has 
been  accepted  as  a  literal  fact.  Men  are  tempted  to  do  evil  by 
the  best  persons  and  things  as  well  as  the  worst.  Money  tempts 
men  to  do  all  sorts  of  evil.  A  man  may  look  upon  the  purest 
woman  with  lust.  He  steals  the  most  beautiful  gems.  There  is 
no  necessary  opposition  between  the  cosmical  principle  and  God. 
God  and  his  world  are  not  in  conflict.  Man  makes  a  wrong  use 
of  the  world.  Psychology  finds  no  need  of  such  an  independent 
objective  evil  power  in  order  to  explain  the  meaning  of  sin. 

VIII.      The  Propagation  of  Sin 

The  transmission  of  sin  by  inheritance  has  been  a  cardinal 
doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church.  David's  statement:  "Behold, 
I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive 
me, "(3)  nas  been  accepted  as  a  literal  fact.  Also  the  statement  of 
St.  Paul:  "Therefore,  as  through  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  through  sin;  and  so  death  passed  unto  all  men, 
for  that  all  sinned:  for  until  the  law  sin  was  not  in  the  world: 
but  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no  law."  (4)  "For  as 
through  the  one  man's  disobedience  the  many  were  made  sinners, 

(1)  Christian  Dogmatics  P.  157. 

(2)  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theol.  P.  459. 

(3)  Ps.  51:5- 

(4)  Rom    5:  12-13. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  19 

even  so  through  the  obedience  of  the  one  shall  the  many  be  made 
righteous,"  (i)  have  been  taken  as  a  true  historical  and  scientific 
explanation  of  the  origin  and  transmission  of  sin.  We  should 
interpret  these  statements  of  Scripture  by  the  actual  facts  of  life 
and  experience  rather  than  interpret  actual  facts  by  a  theory 
which  these  statements  seem  to  establish. 

Augustine  held  that  the  corruption  and  its  consequence, 
death,  are  propagated  by  generation. 

Van  Oosterzee  makes  this  statement:  "Between  the  fall  of 
the  first  man  and  the  corruption  of  the  whole  human  race  there 
thus  exists  a  direct  connection,  which  seeks  its  proper  expression 
in  the  so  called  doctrine  of  original  sin."  (2) 

Martensen  says:  "All  the  descendants  of  Adam  are  by  nature 
that  which  the  first  Adam  made  himself  by  a  free  act  of  will,"  (3)* 
Dr.  Fairbairn  is  much  more  modern:  "This  question  refers  to 
facts  which  not  only  theology  but  science  recognizes  and  seeks 
to  explain.  Our  inheritance  from  the  past  is  too  ancient  for 
memory  to  measure;  and  though  it  has  much  good,  it  has  also 
its  proportion  of  evil.  Now,  the  evil,  whether  privative  or  pos- 
itive, at  once  in  the  nature  which  incorporates  our  inheritance 
from  the  past  and  in  the  conditions  amid  which  it  is  realized, 
represents  what  theology  has  termed  original  sin,  what  science 
knows  in  part  as  heredity,  and  history  as  the  law  of  continuity." 
(4) 

Dr.  William  N.  Clarke  explains  the  problem  as  follows:  "If 
we  ask  how  sin  has  been  perpetuated  in  the  human  race  the 
answer  is  that  the  race  connection  itself  has  been  the  means  of 
propagating  sin.  By  natural  propagation  human  nature  is 
transmitted  as  it  is.  *  *  Depravity  is  the  moral  badness  that 
has  been  imparted  to  that  common  stream  of  life  out  of  which 
successive  individuals  are  produced.  *  *  Heredity  conveys 
depravity  down  the  stream  of  life,  but  not  guilt  for  sins  already 
committed."  (5) 

(1)  Rom.  5:19. 

(2)  Christian  Dogmatics.     Vol.  II.   P.  403. 

(3)  Christian  Dogmatics      P.  174. 

(4)  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theol.     P.  458. 

(5)  An  Outline  of  Christian  Theol.  P.  242,  243. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE    . 

-.     •!     Ill  Mil  •••..! 

It  is  clear  from  these  quotations  that  these  representative 
authors  all  hold  that  sin  as  an  essence  or  power  has  entered  and 
become  a  constituent  element  in  our  race  stock  and  as  such  is 
transmitted  by  natural  inheritance.  This  makes  every  child  not 
Only  a  potential  but  an  actual  sinner,  a  sinner  before  he  has 
sinned.  The  best  modern  science  teaches  that  acquired  charac- 
teristics are  not  inherited.  Moral  qualities  are  not  inherited. 
In  practical  life  we  accept  this  as  a  fact.  Education  is  not  in- 
herited. Saints  do  not  reproduce  saints,  nor  do  criminals  re- 
produce criminals  by  natural  generation.  The  fact  that  a  father 
lies,  steals  and  commits  adultery  is  no  evidence 'that  his  son  will 
do  the  same,  and  vice  versa.  Pelagius  is %  nearer  the  facts  of 
actual  life  when  he  says:  "That  the  propagation  of  sin  by  gen- 
eration is  unthinkable;  that  good  and  evil  are  not  born  with  us, 
but  done  by  us;  that  man  has  the  same  nature  now  as  Adam  had 
when  he  was  created;  that  sin  is  an  act  of  the  free  will.  The 
power  which  sin  exercises  over  man  is  simply  the  power  of 
habit."  (i) 

Another  .theory  of  the  propagation  of  sin,1  which  has  been 
widely  held,  is  that  it  is  by  contact  with  an  evil  world.  If  the 
world  is  evil,  then  such  a  theory  is  natural.  This  conception  of 
the  transmission  of  evil  by  contact  has  been  widely  held.  Her- 
bert Spencer  shows  this  in  his  principles  of  Sociology. 

Westermark  finds  the  idea  in  many  and  wi-dely  separated 
peoples.  He  says:  "Sin  is  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  a  con- 
tagious matter  which  may  be  transmitted  from  parent  to  chil- 
dren or  be  communicated  by  contact."  (2)  "According  to  Vedic 
belief,  sin  is  a  contamination  which  may  be  inherited  or  con- 
tracted in  various  wa.ys  and  of  which  the  sinner  tries  to  rid  him- 
self by  transferring  it  to  some  enemy,  or  by  invoking  the  gods  of 
fire  or  water."  (3)  The  Peruvians  and  the  Greeks  both  held 
this  idea  of  the  transference  of  sin  and  evil.  "Thus  we  see  that 
the  early  conception  of  sin  made  it  something  material,  a  thing, 
,a  real  object,  which  was  separate  from  the  person  and  had  an 
objective  existence.  It  is  looked  upon  as  a  substance  charged 


(1)  Sehaff-Herzog  Encyp.  of  Relig   Knowl.  1*^01.  Vol.  IV.  P.  2186 

(2)  The  Origin  and  Development  of  Moral  Ideas      Vol.  I.    P.  52. 

(3)  Ibid.   ?54- 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  2 i 

with  injurious  energy."  (i)  "The  sick  Chinese  says  of  his  dis- 
ease, 'It  is  my  sin'  instead  of  'it  is  the  punishment  of  my  sin.'  ' 
(2)  "All  kinds  of  evil  are  in  this  way  materialized."  (3)  "The 
Shamanistic  people  of  Siberia,"  says  Georgi,  "hold  evil  to  be  a 
self-existing  substance,  which  they  call  by  an  infinitude  of  par- 
ticular names."  (4) 

W.  Robertson  Smith  finds  the  same  ideas  among  the  Sem- 
ites. He  says:  "Holiness,  like  taboo,  was  conceived  as  infectious 
by  contact.  This  is  true  among  the  Hebrews."  (5) 

This  idea  of  the  transmission  of  evil  by  contact  with  an  evil 
world  was  a  cardinal  teaching  of  the  Pharisees.  It  was  on  this 
point  that  Jesus  came  into  such  sharp  clashes  with  them.  It  has 
been  widely  held  in  the  Christian  church.  But  all  scientific 
study  and  the  experiences  of  life  disprove  this  theory  of  the  pro- 
pagation of  sin. 

How  is  sin  propagated  if  neither  by  inheritance  nor  contact? 
How  is  it  that  the  whole  race  is  sinful?  I  believe  that  Jesus, 
the  wisest  of  all  moral  teachers,  has  given  the  true  explanation. 
He  teaches  distinctly  that  every  man  is  defiled  or  made  sinful  by 
his  own  actual  sinning.  He  says  to  the  multitude  in  contra- 
diction to  the  Pharisees'  teaching  that  men  are  defiled  by  contact 
with  an  unclean  world:  "Hear  and  understand,  not  that  which 
entereth  into  the  mouth  defileth  the  man;  but  that  which  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  that  defileth  the  man."  (6)  And  by 
the  request  of  his  disciples  he  explains  his  meaning  further: 
"But  the  things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  come  forth  out 
of  the  heart;  and  they  defile  the  man.  For  out  of  the  heart 
come  forth  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications, 
thefts,  false  witness,  railings:  These  are  the  things  which  defile 
the  man;  but  to  eat  with  unwashen  hands  defileth  not  the  man." 

(7) 

Each  man  corrupts  his  own  nature.     The  corruption   of    the 

race  is  produced  by  the  actual  sinning  of  each  individual    of    the 

(1)  Ibid  P.  55- 

(2)  Ibid  P.  55. 

(3)  (4)     Ibid  P.  56. 

(5)  The  Religion  of  the  Semites. 

(6)  Matt.  15:11. 

(7)  Matt.  15:18-20. 


22  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

race.  The  first  man  transmitted  and  each  man  transmits  only 
what  he  has  received.  Every  one  from  the  first  to  the  last  has 
received  a  nature  capable  of  sin.  Jesus  assumes  this  fact  in  all 
of  his  teaching.  He  does  not  explain  it.  Man  transmits  his  na- 
ture not  his  sin  by  inheritance.  The  first  man  was  no  exception 
in  the  race. 

Modern  study  has  shown  that  environment  plays  fully  as 
great  a  role  in  the  transmission  of  character  as  inheritance. 
Theology  has  taken  very  little  account  of  this  factor  in  the  doc- 
trine of  sin.  Practically  all  now  hold  the  view  that  guilt  is  not 
inherited.  They  should  as  readily  see  that  sin  is  not  transmitted 
by  natural  generation.  Not  heredity  but  environment  "conveys 
depravity  down  the  stream  of  life."  Man  thinks  and  feels  in 
response  to  his  stimulating  environment.  It  is  true  as  Jesus 
taught,  that  men  are  defiled  by  the  thoughts  and  feelings  which 
proceed  from  the  mind  and  heart.  But  these  come  forth  largely 
in  response  to  the  stimulations  of  environment.  Men  are  tempted 
by  suggestion.  The  individual  has  a  certain  amount  of  control, 
according  to  his  already  developed  character,  by  choice  over  his 
thoughts  and  feelings,  whether  they  shall  be  good  or  bad.  This 
is  his  response  to  his  stimulations  or  suggestions.  Here  lies  the 
element  of  freedom  and  responsibility. 

Imitation  is  a  powerful  factor  in  the  propagation  of  ideas- 
Imitation  and  environment  acting  together  constitute  a  more 
potent  agency  than  heredity.  Personal  environment  acting 
through  imitation  is  the  most  powerful  means  that  we  know  for 
the  spread  of  ideas  and  personal  traits.  The  constitutional  na- 
ture of  man  is  transmitted  by  heredity;  his  acquired  character- 
istics are  extended  by  means  of  environment.  Corrupt  environ- 
ment will  produce  corrupt  men  and  women.  Environment  stim- 
ulates the  same  kind  of  thinking  and  feeling.  The  child  thinks, 
feels,  wills  and  acts  in  the  spirit  and  life  of  his  surroundings. 
This  is  now  a  matter  of  common  observation.  Tribal  and  racial 
traits  and  customs  are  thus  perpetuated.  The  criminal  and 
pauper  classes  are  not  born  so,  but  made  by  their  surroundings. 
There  is  a  new  birth  of  environment.  The  reformatory  principle 
is  based  upon  the  idea  of  right  environment. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  23 

IX.      The  Penalty  of  Sin 

The  relation  of  sin  to  its  penalty  is  that  of  cause  and  effect. 
St.  Paul  has  given  the  universal  principle:  "For  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap."  (i)  In  the  nature  of  things 
penalty  must  be  determined  by  transgression.  Physical  pen- 
alties follow  physical  transgressions;  spiritual  penalties  follow 
spiritual  transgressions.  The  consequences  of  sin  are  not  con- 
fined to  the  individual  who  commits  the  sin.  This  is  due  to 
the  inter-relations  of  social  environment.  William  N.  Clarke 
names  the  following  elements  of  penalty:  "The  sense  of  guilt, 
the  disapproval  of  God,  moral  deterioration  and  many  physical 
and  social  consequences  are  elements  in  penalty.  Still  another 
element  is  tendency  to  permanency."  (2)  The  Scripture  and 
theology  teach  that  the  final  penalty  of  sin  is  death.  "The 
wages  of  sin  is  death."  (3)  Jesus  teaches  that  persistence  in  sin 
excludes  men  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  from  the  blessings 
of  eternal  life.  From  the  biological  point  of  view,  death  is  the 
penalty  of  sin.  Man  can  sin  against  himself,  against  other  men, 
and  against  God.  All  sin  is  against  God.  If  life  is  the  corres- 
pondence between  man  and  his  environment,  then  every  viola- 
tion of  the  correspondence  means  death.  This  death  may  be 
partial  or  complete,  according  to  the  extent  and  nature  of  the 
violation.  It  is  physical  death  in  relation  to  the  natural  world, 
mental  death  in  relation  to  truth,  social  death  in  relation  to  other 
men  and  spiritual  or  eternal  death  in  relation  to  God  and  the 
spiritual  world. 

B  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SALVATION 

In  the  nature  of  things  the  doctrine  of  salvation  must  cor- 
respond with  the  doctrine  of  sin.  In  theology  this  is  the  case. 
If  there  is  error  in  regard  to  sin  there  will  be  error  in  regard  to 
salvation.  In  treating  this  subject  it  will  be  important  to  state 
the  general  theory  as  held  by  the  church.  We  shall  thus  be  bet- 
ter able  to  note  the  errors  of  the  past  and  to  suggest  needed  cor- 
rections. 

(1)  Gal.  6:7. 

(2)  An  Outline  of  Christian  Theol.  P.  246-254. 

(3)  Rom   6:23. 


24  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

/.      The  Biblical  Conceptions  of  Salvation 

It  is  fitting  to  present,  first  of  all,  the  biblical  conceptions  of 
salvation.  The  article  in  Hasting's  Bible  Dictionary  gives  a 
good  outline.  I  will  state  the  leading  ideas  of  that  article. 

The  idea  of  salvation  has  a  growth  corresponding  with  the 
moral  development  of  the  teachers.  The  fundamental  idea  is 
that  of  deliverance.  At  first  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is  deliver- 
ance of  Israel  from  their  enemies  in  battle,  the  deliverance  of 
Israel  from  Egypt.  Then  it  is  deliverance  from  trouble  and  this 
is  mostly  temporal  and  material.  Then  comes  the  idea  of  messi- 
anic deliverance.  This  is  victory  over  enemies  and  earthly 
prosperity.  The  Messianic  Kingdom  is  largely  an  earthly  king- 
dom with  earthly  blessings.  Later  the  idea  becomes  more  in- 
dividual and  consists  in  righting  his  wrongs  and  correcting  his 
sins  and  evil  ways.  It  is  doing  God's  will  and  loving  his  neigh- 
bor. Then  the  future  element  comes  in,  but  mostly  for  this 
earth.  Finally  it  is  deliverance  from  sin  itself,  both  personal 
and  national.  The  highest  moral  conception  is  that  of  forgiveness 
of  sin  which  establishes  right  relations  with  Jehovah. 

In  the  teaching  of  Jesus  salvation  is  applied  first  of  all  to 
physical  healing.  Then  it  is  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Here  the  idea  has  a  development  corresponding  to  that 
of  the  kingdom.  To  be  saved  is  to  become  a  true  spiritual  and 
ethical  son  of  God.  It  is  to  love  God  and  man.  As  an  individ- 
ual experience  it  is  personal  righteousness,  caused  by  love.  It  is 
deliverance  from  sinful  conduct,  habits,  spirit,  heart  and  mind. 
It  also  has  reference  to  society.  It  is  spiritual  fellowship.  It  is 
deliverance  from  sin  by  entrance  into  the  divine  life.  The  meth- 
od of  salvation  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  giving  up  sin,  accepting 
Him,  and  returning  to  God. 

In  the  teaching  of  the  apostles,  Jesus  is  the  means  of  salva- 
tion. The  term  is  comprehensive  and  means  deliverance  from 
sin  and  its  penalties,  even  death.  It  involves  the  new  age  and 
the  future  life.  The  means  of  attaining  it  are  repentance  and 
faith  and  the  new  life.  The  grounds  of  it  are  the  death  and  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 

For  St.  Paul  salvation  is  deliverance  from  the  law,  from 
legalism  into  life;  from  sin  as  a  present  power;  from  future 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  25 

judgment  and  punishment;  from  death,  and  this  involves  also  the 
resurrection.  It  is  accomplished  by  faith  in  Jesus.  He  imparts 
a  new  spiritual  vitality.  The  death  of  Christ  plays  an  important 
role.  We  are  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  Christ.  There 
is  a  social  side  to  this  divine  life.  This  vital  unity  is  the  king- 
dom of  God  as  Christ  taught  it.  It  has  a  cosmic  significance 
and  nature  participates  in  the  new  order. 

In  the  teaching  of  John,  salvation  is  a  present  spiritual  exper- 
ience.   It  is  life  eternal,  but  this  life  begins  here.   It  comes  through 
faith  in    Christ,    in    union   with     Christ.      Paul    emphasizes    the 
death  and  the  cross  of  Christ  and    John    emphasizes   the   incarna- 
tion and  life. 

//.      Theological  Views  of  Salvation 

To  get  a  clear  idea  of  salvation,  which  the  church  has  held, 
it  is  necessary  to  present  the  views  of  several  representatives  of 
different  periods. 

Schaff-Herzog  gives  the  following  statement  of  Anselm's 
theory  of  the  atonement:  "He  taught  that  sin  is  debt;  that  under 
the  government  of  God  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  this  debt 
should  be  paid,  that  is',  that  the  penalty  incurred  by  the  guilt  of 
sin  should  be  suffered;  that  this  necessity  has  its  ground  in  the 
infinite  perfections  of  the  divine  nature;  that  this  penalty  must 
be  inflicted  upon  the  sinner  in  person,  unless  a  substitute  can  be 
found  having  all  legal  qualifications  for  his  office.  This  was 
alone  realized  in  Jesus  Christ,  a  divine  person  embracing  a  human 
nature."  (i) 

The  orthodox  view  has  been  clearly  stated  by  Van  Ooster- 
zee:  "Reconciliation  with  God  is  the  first  need  of  humanity. 
The  reconciliation  of  the  sinner  with  God  is  inconceivable  with- 
out an  atonement  for  sin  in  the  sight  of  God.  True  reconciliation 
can  only  be  the  fruit  of  expiation.  Thus  much  may  now  at  least 
be  considered  as  established  with  absolute  certainty;  according 
to  the  eternal  council  of  God,  Jesus  Christ  must  suffer  and  die, 
not  merely  by  means  of,  but  for,  the  sins  of  the  world.  In  pre- 
senting this  sacrifice,  the  Lord  has  perfectly  fulfilled  the  law  and 
throughout  his  whole  life,  but  especially  upon  the  cross,  borne 

(i)     Relig.  Encyp.  3d  Ed.  P.  165. 


26  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

in  his  own  body  the  wrath  of  God  against  the  sins  of  the  whole 
human  race.  By  such  a  sacrifice  the  requirement  of  the  highest 
majesty  has  been  perfectly  satisfied.  In  consequence  thereof  God 
in  Christ  has  shown  mercy  to  the  world  in  its  totality,  and  every 
one  who  believes  in  him  is  in  point  of  fact  discharged  from  the 
guilt  and  punishment  of  sin.  The  atonement  thus  affected  ex- 
tends not  only  to  the  present,  but  also  to  the  past  and  future,  yea, 
embraces  heaven  and  earth,  and  is  so  perfect  that  nothing  needs 
to  be  added  thereto  by  any  one."  (i) 

These  statements  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  older  orthodox  views 
of  the  atonement.  The  doctrine  as  thus  stated  misrepresents  the 
character  of  God  and  his  relation  to  the  world.  It  is  based  upon 
a  mistaken  idea  of  the  origin  of  man  and  of  the  nature  of  sin. 
It  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  facts  of  the  natural  and  spiritual 
history  of  man.  It  fails  to  grasp  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  Jesus. 

Dr.  Fairbairn  is  more  in  harmony  with  scientific  progress. 
He  says  of  the  atonement:  "It  burns  into  the  soul  of  the  sinner 
the  sense  of  the  evil  and  the  shame  forces  him  to  look  at  it  with 
God's  eyes,  to  judge  it  with  His  conscience,  to  hate  it  with  His 
hate.  And  when  this  is  the  case  the  sinner  is  saved.  The  atone- 
ment may,  therefore,  be  described  as  the  method  by  which  God 
has  so  judged  sin  in  the  very  home  of  the  sinful  as  to  achieve 
the  salvation  of  the  sinner."  (2) 

Dr.  W.  N.  Clarke  speaks  thus  of  salvation:  "To  be  saved  is 
to  be  delivered  from  sin,  that  is,  from  sinning  and  the  spirit  that 
will  sin,  and  brought  to  righteousness,  that  is,  to  the  spirit  that 
is  right  and  will  do  right.  If  men,  however  sinful,  can  be 
brought  into  inner  acquaintance,  fellowship,  and  moral  unity 
with  Christ,  all  this  will  be  accomplished.  Union  with  Christ  is 
salvation."  (3)  He  explains  the  nature  of  Christ's  work  in  rec- 
onciliation : 

i.  "The  action  of  God  in  the  work  of  Christ  was  self- 
expression  with  reference  to  sin,  as  hating  sin,  as  Saviour  and  as 
sin-bearer." 

(1)  Christian  Dogmatics.     Vol.  II.     Ps   593-606. 

(2)  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theol    P.  .483. 

(3)  An  Outline  of  Christian  Theol.  P  355. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  27 

2.  "The  two-fold  object  in    making    this    self-expression   of 
God  in  Christ  was  to  win  men  and  to  satisfy    God.     There   is    no 
question  here  of    satisfying  law  or    punitive    justice.      But    there 
is  a  question  of  satisfying  God  himself.     For   this    God  is    doing 
all  that  can  be  done  to  save  men." 

3.  "In  Jesus  Christ  this  self-expression    of    God    respecting 
sin  was  made  in  humanity."   (i) 

These  views  of  Dr.  Fairbairn  and  of  Dr.  Clarke  are  a  great 
advance  on  the  older  theories.  They  present  a  truer  conception 
of  God  and  of  Christ's  part  in  the  work  of  salvation. 

Dr.  R.  J.  Campbell  of  London  considers  the  problem  of  sin 
and  evil  as  the  necessary  background.  He  says:  "Evil  is  a 
negative,  not  a  positive  term.  It  denotes  the  absence  rather  than 
the  presence  of  something.  Evil  is  not  a  principle  at  war  with 
good.  Good  is  being  and  evil  is  not  being.  Where  one  is  the 
other  is  not."  (2)  "Sin  is  the  opposite  of  love.  Sin  is  selfish- 
ness. Sin  makes  for  death;  love  makes  for  life.  Sin  is  self- ward; 
love  is  all-ward.  Sin  is  a  quest  for  life,  but  a  quest  which  is 
pursued  in  the  wrong  way."  (3) 

This  characterization  of  sin  and  evil  is  neither  adequate  nor 
true.  His  statements  are  contradictory.  Evil  is  nothing  and 
yet  a  quest  for  life.  The  truth  is  that  sin  is  a  state  in  which 
men  are  living  and  acting.  The  selfish  or  sinful  man  is  just  as 
active  and  positive  as  the  good  man.  The  one  is  a  state  of  obed- 
ience to  law  and  right;  the  other  is  a  state  of  transgression  of  law 
and  right.  Abstract  goodness  does  not  exist  any  more  than  abstract 
evil.  But  men  exist  in  a  state  of  sin  just  as  much  as  in  a  state  of 
love  and  gooHeess.  The  one  is  just  as  active  as  the  other. 

He  is  right  in  regard  to  the  atonement,  saying  that  he  pre- 
fers to  take  human  nature  for  granted  and  to  enquire  whether  it 
needs  anything  like  a  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  rather  than  as- 
sume the  doctrine  and  then  try  to  explain  it.  He  says:  "Was 
there  a  divine  program?"  "We  should  see  Gethsemane  from  a 
truly  human  point  of  view  to  get  its  meaning."  (4) 

(1)  Ibid.     Ps.  347.  343,  34^. 

(2)  The  New  Theology.    IN    43,  44 

(3)  Ibid.   Ps.   51,  52. 

(4)  New  Theology    Ps    120    122. 


28  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

"Sin  is  the  divisive,  separating  thing  in  our  relations.  How 
can  we  get  rid  of  it?  The  only  way  is  by  the  ministry  of  love. 
The  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  is  winning  the  world  away  from  sel- 
fishness and  into  love.  This  is  the  atonement  at  work.  There 
is  not  and  never  has  been  any  other  atonement."  "Jesus  per- 
fectly manifested  the  atonement.  He  is  the  atonement.",  (i) 

In  general  Dr.  Campbell  has  taken  a  step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. He  sees  the  necessity  of  treating  the  subject  from  the  hu- 
man side,  and  from  the  psychological  point  of  view.  His  treat- 
ment is  too  general  and  too  vague. 

I  have  presented  the  views  of  the  above  authors  on  the  sub- 
ject of  salvation,  because  they  represent  the  ideas  held  by  the 
church  in.  different  periods.  These  range  from  the  most 
conservative  to  the  most  liberal.  They  show  the  line  of 
development.  Today  the  doctrine  is  made  up  of  different  views. 
The  result  is  theological  confusion. 

In  treating  the  problem  of  salvation  we  need  first  of  all  a 
right  point  of  view.  We  need  a  larger  conception  of  the  subject 
than  theology  has  given.  It  has  made  its  doctrine  of  salvation 
correspond  to  its  idea  of  man  and  of  sin.  It  has  followed  the  de- 
ductive method.  The  result  has  been  not  only  a  wrong  premise 
but  an  insufficient  one.  The  doctrine  of  salvation  is  incomplete. 

The  problem  of  salvation  must  include  more  than  saving  lost 
sinners  from  punishment  in  the  narrow  sense.  It  has  a  broad 
scope.  It  should  begin  on  the  human  side.  This  includes  the 
whole  man  as  an  individual  and  as  a  member  of  society.  We 
must  study  man's  life  and  observe  the  processes  which  are  at 
work  in  the  evolution  of  man  and  society.  In  short  we  should 
follow  the  scientific  method.  We  should  be  guided  by  actual 
facts  and  processes  rather  than  by  deductive  and  speculative 
theories.  Thus  we  shall  get  nearer  to  the  true  meaning  and 
nature  of  salvation. 

///.      Definition  of  Salvation 

Salvation  is  not  only  a  negative,  but  a  positive  process.  It 
is  not  merely  belief  in  certain  doctrinal  statements,  forgiveness 

(i)     Ibid.  Ps.  162,  167 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION 


on  the  part  of  God,  deliverance  from  sin  and  its  penalty.  These 
are  a  part  of  the  process.  Salvation  is  the  whole  complex  pro- 
cess which  produces  the  complete  and  perfect  man  in  relation  to 
his  whole  environment.  This  includes  the  physical  and  spiritual 
being  of  both  man  and  his  environment. 

In  the  problem  of  salvation,  the  most  important  thing  to  be 
considered  is  not  man's  depravity,  but  his  virtue;  not  what  he 
has  lost,  but  what  he  possesses;  not  his  fall,  but  his  rise;  not  his 
incapacity,  but  his  capacity;  not  his  condemnation  and  punish- 
ment, but  his  approval  and  reward;  not  his  death,  but  his  life. 
Traditional  theology  has  looked  at  man  as  a  being  chiefly  noted 
for  his  sin  and  depravity,  his  lost  virtue  and  inability.  These 
things  are  not  man's  chief  characteristics.  Man  himself  is  a  de- 
nial of  it.  The  history  of  the  race  is  a  denial  of  it.  The  evolu- 
tion of  man  proves  that  he  has  an  immense  fund  of  life  and  ca- 
pacity, that  he  has  been  rising  instead  of  falling,  that  he  has  in- 
finite capacity  for  improvement.  This  is  God's  estimate  of  man 
as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  In  all  his  appeals  to  men  Jesus 
assumes  that  they  have  great  capacity.  He  rebukes  men  be- 
cause they  do  not  respond.  One  of  his  chief  aims  was  to  get 
men  to  realize  their  own  value  and  ability.  The  doctrine  of  sal- 
vation can  not  be  laid  upon  the  foundation  of  man's  depravity 
and  inability,  but  upon  his  capacity  for  development.  This 
ability  resides  in  life. 

Salvation  is  the  complete  development  of  the  whole  life  of 
man.  Its  process  is  that  of  elimination  and  addition.  All  that 
is  imperfect,  useless,  harmful  and  sinful  must  be  eliminated. 
All  that  is  perfect  and  good  must  be  added.  It  is  conscious,  in- 
telligent obedience  to  the  whole  law  of  God  in  the  natural  and 
spiritual  world.  When  perfect,  it  is  complete  correspondence 
between  man  and  his  environment.  It  is  perfect  life.  Its  direct- 
ing agent  is  the  will  aided  by  the  intellect.  Its  motive  power  is 
love.  The  prophet  Isaiah  defines  its  process  thus:  "Cease  to  do 
evil;  learn  to  do  well."  (i)  Jesus  would  bring  every  man  into 
perfect  obedience  to  God. 

There  are  two  leading  psychic  elements  in  the  process  of 
salvation,  the  moral  and  intellectual.  The  moral  belongs  to 

(1)     Isa.,  16-17. 


30  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

duty  and  choice,  the  intellectual    to    knowledge.     Theology    has 
failed  to  appreciate  the  full  value  of  the  intellectual. 

Progress  in  civilization  is  largely  due  to  the  increase  of 
knowledge.  Knowledge  shows  what  is  right  and  good.  A  child 
may  have  as  free  a  choice  to  do  good  as  a  man,  but  he  lacks 
knowledge.  Abraham  had  as  good  a  will  to  do  right  as  Wash- 
ington, but  he  lacked  knowledge.  Ignorance  is  not  sin,  but  a 
great  cause  of  sin.  Henry  T.  Buckle  develops  this  truth  with  a 
great  mass  of  evidence  in  his  History  of  European  Civilization. 
He  quotes  this  statement  from  Sir  James  Mackintosh:  "Morality 
admits  no  discoveries.  More  than  3000  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  composition  of  the  Pentateuch;  and  let  any  man,  if  he  is 
able,  tell  me  in  what  important  respect  the  rule  of  life  has  var- 
ied since  that  distant  period.  *  *  *  The  case  of  the  physical 
sciences  is  directly  opposite.  From  the  countless  variety  of  facts 
with  which  they  are  conversant,  it  if  impossible  to  prescribe  any 
bounds  to  their  future  improvement. "  (i)  He  quotes  from 
Condorcet:  "La  morale  de  toute  les  nations  a  ele  la  meme." 
Also  from  Kaut's  Logik:  "In  der  moralphilosophie  sind  wir 
nicht  weiter  gekommen,  als  die  Alten."  He  asserts  that  good- 
ness is  not  handed  down,  while  the  gains  of  knowledge  are  car- 
ried forward.  Great  religious  persecutions  have  been  carried 
on  by  the  best  men,  morally  considered.  Moral  feelirg  has  been 
higher  in  times  of  war. 

IV.      Jesus  Christ,  the  Central  Figure 

Theology  has  rightly  made  Jesus  Christ  the  central  figure  in 
its  doctrine  of  salvation.  But  its  explanation  of  Christ  in  his  re- 
lation to  the  problem  is  not  so  satisfactory.  He  is  the  greatest 
factor  in  the  problem.  Only  we  ought  to  discover  the  actual 
part  which  he  has  in  it.  Theology  has  ignored  the  human  and 
emphasized  the  transcendent  side.  Dr.  George  B.  Cutten  makes 
this  statement:  "Theology  has,  in  the  past,  endeavored  to  prove 
what  mental  states  the  religious  person  must  have;  psychology 
now  assumes  the  task  of  observing  what  these  states  actually  arc. 
The  modern  psychological  and  pedagogical  method  is  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  i.  e.,  in  this  case  from  rqan  to  God;  the. 

(i)     P.  103. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  31 

ancient    theological    method     was    from    the    unknown    to    the 
known."     (i) 

How  should  we  treat  Jesus  in  relation  to  this  problem?  I 
think  that  a  natural  method  will  be  to  consider  three  propositions, 
namely: 

1.  What  kind  of  a  person  was  Jesus  Christ? 

2.  What  was    the    condition    of    the    world    into    which    he 
came? 

3.  What  was  the  reaction  of  Jesus    and    the   world    to    each 
other? 

A  plain,  simple  answer  to  these  questions  will  give  the 
truest  idea  of  the  part  which  Jesus  has  in  the  work  of  salvation. 

It  will  be  better  than  any  method  of  deduction  or  specula- 
tion. I  will  present  the  essential  facts  of  each  as  concisely  as 
possible. 

1.  What  kind  of  .a  person  was  Jesus  Christ? 

He  had  a  normal  and  healthy  body.  He  lived  a  natural  and 
normal  human  life.  We  have  no  evidence  that  he  experienced 
any  sickness  or  disease.  Yet  he  was  not  exempt  from  any  of  the 
laws  and  conditions  of  the  physical  world. 

His  was  a  perfectly  normal  human  soul,  a  perfectly  sane 
mind.  His  intellect,  emotions  and  will  were  normal  in  their 
operations.  There  was  nothing  peculiar  or  strange  about  him. 
He  had  no  extra-human  faculties  or  powers.  He  obeyed  all  of 
the  laws  of  his  own  being  and  of  the  physical  and  spiritual 
world  in  which  he  lived.  His  superiority  consisted  in  his  more 
perfect  obedience  to  all  the  laws  of  life,  physical,  social  and 
moral  He  was  a  perfectly  natural  man.  He  was  subject  to  all 
the  laws  of  body  and  mind,  as  hunger,  thirst  -and  fatigue.  He 
was  free  from  sin  because  he  obeyed  all  law.  His  perfect  hu- 
manity was  his  divinity. 

2.  What  was  the  condition  of  the    world    into    which    Jesus 
came? 

I  make  no  attempt  to  give  a  complete  description  of  the  world 
in  the  time  of  Jesus.  A  few  of  the  important  social  facts  are  suf- 
ficient for  my  purpose. 

(i)     The  Psychological  Phenomena  of  Christianity  P.  5,  6. 


32  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

Vast  numbers  of  people  were  afflicted  with  every  sort  of  sick- 
ness and  disease  of  body  and  mind.  The  moral  and  social  life 
were  as  imperfect  as  the  physical.  Extreme  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition abounded  on  every  hand.  Only  a  few  were  developed 
by  education.  There  was  misfit  everywhere  between  man  and 
the  world  and  between  man  and  God.  Indeed  the  world  was 
out  of  joint.  The  people  were  living  in  disobedience  to  every 
law  of  nature,  of  society,  and  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  They 
were  living  in  sin  in  the  broadest  conception  of  the  term.  Sick- 
ness, sorrow,  misery,  corruption,  vice,  crime,  greed,  hatred, 
malice  and  wickedness  were  everywhere  in  evidence.  There  was 
little  true  joy  and  happiness.  Life  was  all  wrong  politically,  so- 
cially, industrially,  morally  and  religiously. 

3.    What  was  the  reaction  of  Jesus  and  the  world  to  each  other? 

What  would  such  a  person  as  Jesus  do  in  such  a  world? 
Here  was  a  perfect  and  righteous  man  in  an  imperfect  and  sin- 
ful world;  a  man  perfect  in  body  and  mind  in  the  midst  of  a  dis- 
eased and  sin-sick  humanity.  How  must  such  a  person  think, 
feel  and  act?  Certainly  such  a  person  was  moved  with  pity  and 
compassion.  He  could  not  help  bearing  their  sorrows  and  bur- 
dens. All  that  the  Scripture  says  of  him  is  literally  true.  Such 
a  person  must  do  just  what  Jesus  did  do.  He  must  help  the  peo- 
ple out  of  their  sins  and  sorrows.  Of  course  such  a  person 
"came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  He  must  lay 
down  his  life  for  the  world  and  become  the  servant  of  all. 

What  did  he  do  first?  He  will  act  according  to  the  nature 
of  things.  He  will  meet  the  needs  as  they  come  to  him.  This 
is  what  Jesus  did  do.  He  healed  men  of  their  diseases.  He  re- 
stored the  body  and  the  mind  to  health.  These  were  the  first 
appeals  to  him. 

Jesus  knew  the  infinite  value  of  man.  He  made  every  effort 
to  conserve  and  develop  all  of  his  capacities.  He  did  not  con- 
demn the  people  for  their  deficiencies.  He  began  to  inspire  and 
instruct.  He  endeavored  to  put  men  into  right  relations  with 
the  world,  with  each  other  and  with  God.  He  sought  to  correct 
the  wrongs  and  evils  existing  in  men  and  in  society.  He  insisted 
upon  obedience  to  God  and  his  laws.  He  began  to  establish 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  human  society. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  33 

In  the  natural  reaction  of  Jesus  to  the  world  in  which  he 
lived  we  have  the  basis  for  a  true  conception  of  the  problem  of 
salvation.  It  shows  the  actual  work  which  he  did,  reveals  his 
own  conception  of  salvation.  It  is  the  natural,  psychic  process 
which  is  actually  going  on  in  the  world.  There  is  no  theory  to  be 
followed  or  proved.  It  will  be  necessary  to  develop  the  different 
kinds  of  his  work  and  to  show  more  definitely  how  Jesus  worked 
along  the  different  lines  of  his  saving  work.  We  shall  also  see 
the  place  which  Jesus,  himself,  occupied  in  the  whole  problem. 

In  adopting  this  method  it  may  seem  to  some  that  I  am  ig- 
noring the  divinity  of  Jesus.  On  the  contrary  this  method  will 
in  the  truest  sense  assert  his  divinity.  His  life  and  work  reveal 
it  better  than  any  theory  can  assert  it.  This  is  where  Jesus  ex- 
pected men  to  look  for  it.  He  was  surprised  that  men  did  not 
believe  in  him  after  hearing  his  words  and  seeing  his  deeds. 
This  was  his  answer  to  John,  asking  if  He  were  the  Christ.  He 
said  to  the  Jews:  "The  works  that  I  do  in  my  Father's  name, 
these  bear  witness  of  me."  (i)  And  again:  "Say  ye  of  him, 
whom  the  Father  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world  thou  blas- 
phemest;  because  I  said  I  am  the  son  of  God?  If  I  do  not  the  works 
of  my  Father,  believe  me  not;  but  if  I  do  them,  though  ye  be- 
lieve not  me,  believe  the  works  that  ye  may  know  and  under- 
stand that  the  Father  is  in  me  and  I  in  the  Father."  (2)  The 
following  statement  of  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  is  very  suggestive  on 
this  point:  "The  psychological  basis  of  faith,  of  immortality,  of 
sin,  of  inspiration,  of  prophecy,  of  conversion,  many  broader 
conceptions  of  the  affectional  nature  that  show  not  only  the 
baser  forms  but  the  higher  relations  of  the  Platonic  Eros  with 
the  Pauline  charity  and  Jesus'  profound  postulate  of  love  and 
many  others  already  give  promise  that  in  place  of  the  too  docetic- 
ally  apprehended  Christ  we  shall  before  very  long  have  a  psy- 
chology of  Jesus  which  will  restore  his  sublime  figure  from  the 
degredation  to  which  patristic  metaphysics  has  so  long  banished 
him  and  of  religion  that  will  make  it  again  central  in  the  soul." 

(2) 

(1)  I  John  10:25. 

(2)  John  10:36-38. 

(2)     Adolescence,  Vol,  II,  P.  327. 


34  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

V.     Salvation  by  Healing 

1.  Why  did  Jesus  heal  the  body? 

He  did  it  as  part  of  his  saving  work.  This  was  man's  first 
great  need.  He  was  conscious  of  his  need  here  and  pressed  for- 
ward for  help.  Jesus  saw  deeper  needs,  but  began  where  he 
could.  The  body  is  a  part  of  man's  being  in  this  world.  Hor- 
ace Bushell  in  his  Vicarious  Sacrifice  has  pointed  out  the  fact 
that  the  soul  can  not  be  saved  without  saving  the  body,  that  the 
one  can  not  be  in  health  and  the  other  in  disease,  that  sin  affects 
the  body  as  well  as  the  soul.  The  missionary  begins  just  where 
Jesus  did  and  for  the  same  reasons.  This  opens  the  way  for 
higher  spiritual  work. 

2.  Methods  of  healing. 

The  art  of  healing  has  three  general  divisions,  viz.,  faith 
healing,  mental  healing,  and  therapeutic  healing.  It  is  not  my 
purpose  to  give  any  detailed  discussion  of  these  branches  of  the 
healing  art,  but  merely  to  show  that  they  form  an  essential  part 
of  the  whole  work  of  salvation. 

The  first  form  is  perhaps  the  oldest  of  all.  Among  prim- 
itive and  savage  peoples  healing  was  closely  associated  with  re- 
ligion. The  same  person  was  both  priest  and  medicine-man. 
This  includes  faith  in  all  sorts  of  objects  and  charms,  in  persons 
who  have  special  gifts  of  healing,  in  supernatural  powers,  and  in 
God. 

Mental  healing  was  practiced  long  before  its  principles  and 
laws  were  understood.  Its  intelligent  practice  is  modern. 

Therapeutic  healing  is  the  accepted  scientific  treatment  of 
disease  which  employs  physical  means  and  remedies.  These 
forms  of  healing  overlap  each  other  in  practice.  Healing  is  a 
very  complex  process. 

Jesus  seems  to  have  employed  entirely  ' 'faith  cure"  and 
"mental  suggestion."  Most  of  his  cases  of  healing  can  be  ex- 
plained by  these  two  methods.  In  some  instances  there  seems 
to  have  been  no  action  on  the  part  of  the  patient.  Therapeutic 
healing  was  very  crude  in  his  time.  Jesus  probably  had  no 
special  knowledge  of  the  art.  The  point  here  is  that  he  con- 
sidered healing  a  part  of  his  saving  work. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  35 

3.  Should  the  methods  which  Jesus  employed  limit  or  de- 
termine present  or  future  methods  of  healing? 

There  are  many  who  think  that  only  the  means  and  meth- 
ods used  by  Jesus  should  be  employed  today.  This  idea  fails 
to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  Jesus  came  not  to  bind  men 
but  to  give  them  liberty.  He  left  the  way  open  for  every  possi- 
ble form  of  progress.  This  appears  in  his  instructions  to  his 
disciples:  "Howbeit  when  he,  the  spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he 
shall  guide  you  into  all  the  truth."  (i)  And  again:  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth  on  me  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do."  (2) 
When  Jesus  sent  out  his  disciples  he  did  not  load  them  with  re- 
strictions. He  did  not  rebuke  their  lack  of  faith.  If  they  had 
healed  or  saved  a  man,  who  can  think  that  Jesus  would  have 
quibbled  over  the  method?  Jesus  gave  the  initial  impulse,  set 
the  example,  revealed  the  motive  of  his  saving  work,  but  left 
the  methods  of  work  to  be  determined  by  the  future  progress  of 
knowledge. 

The  nature  of  the  maladies  must  determine  the  means  and 
methods  employed  for  their  cure.  This  age  is  bound  to  employ 
the  best  means  it  can  discover.  The  best  means  must  be  admin- 
istered by  the  most  competent  men.  Faith  cure,  mental  healing, 
medicine,  surgery  and  hygiene  should  be  employed  where  each 
is  best  adapted.  In  each  case  the  motive  should  be  the  worship 
of  God  and  the  service  of  man.  All  healing  is  divine  healing. 

We  must  add  to  these  forms  of  healing,  hygenic  instruction 
and  practice.  Prevention  is  better  than  cure.  This  was  Christ's 
ultimate  aim.  Another  feature  of  the  healing  ministry  has  to  do 
with  physical  and  social  environment.  Environment  must  be 
freed  from  germs  and  carriers  of  disease.  The  work  done  in 
Cuba,  Panama  and  the  slums  of  cities  is  a  part  of  the  work  of 
salvation. 

VI.      Salvation  by  Development 

Salvation  includes  the  whole  process  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment. The  undeveloped  person  is  just  as  truly  lost  as  the  err- 

(r)    John  16:13, 
(2)     John  14:12. 


36  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

ing  one.  Any  unfinished  work  is  a  lost  work.  This  includes 
the  whole  life  of  man  and  involves  nutrition,  education  and  en- 
vironment. We  have  only  to  consider  in  the  most  general  way 
the  extent  in  which  people  are  undeveloped  in  their  capacities  of 
knowledge,  art,  music,  skill,  and  moral  character  to  see  the 
force  of  this.  The  whole  conduct  and  attitude  of  Jesus  toward 
men  shows  how  supremely  he  was  interested  in  their  complete 
development.  He  did  not  look  upon  men  as  so  many  wrecks  to 
to  be  saved.  In  his  sight  man  was  more  like  a  germ  or  seed  to 
be  developed  by  growth  than  like  a  broken  trunk.  He  was  al- 
ways appealing  to  men  to  rise,  to  grow,  to  advance. 
2.  The  Process  of  Development 

The  whole  process  is  complex.  It  includes  a  new  birth,  nu- 
trition, education  and  exercise. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  new  birth.  We  have  not  yet 
had  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  it.  It  has  been  explained  as 
the  initial  act  of  a  new  spiritual  life,  the  union  of  the  divine 
spirit  with  the  soul  of  man,  creating  a  new  personality.  Birth 
has  been  confused  with  conception.  The  birth  of  a  child  is  his 
entrance  into  a  new  environment.  Reaction  begins  between  the 
organism  of  the  child  and  the  world.  This  process  goes  on  en- 
larging all  through  life.  The  new  environment  acts  as  a  stim- 
ulus to  develop  the  capacities  of  the  child.  By  means  of  infinite 
stimuli,  the  physical  organism,  the  senses,  the  intellect,  the 
emotions  and  the  will  are  developed.  Each  individual  is  thus 
born  into  the  home,  the  school,  the  state,  industrial  and  social 
life.  He  is  born  into  the  kingdom  of  truth,  love  and  beauty. 
Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus:  "Except  a  man  be  born  anew  he  can 
not  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  Except  a  man  be  born  of  the 
water  and  the  Spirit,  he  can  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born 
of  the  spirit  is  spirit."  (i)  The  new  birth  brings  contact  with 
new  environment,  flesh  with  flesh  and  spirit  with  spirit.  "He 
that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  life."  (2) 

Nutrition  is  essential  to  proper  development.  Jesus  in- 
sisted on  the  proper  nourishment  of  both  body  and  soul.  He 

(1)  John  3:3,  5,  6 

(2)  John  3:36. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  37 

says:  "Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.  (i)  "I  am  the  bread 
which  came  down  out  of  heaven,  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he 
shall  live  forever."  (2)  ''The  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto 
you  are  spirit  and  are  life."  (3) 

Education  is  an  important  part  of  salvation.  Jesus  empha- 
sized his  ministry  of  teaching.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years  we 
find  him  "sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors,  both  hearing  them 
and  asking  them  questions."  (4)  We  read  in  Matthew:  "And 
Jesus  went  about  in  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  synagogues  and 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of 
diseases."  (5)  "For  he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority.'' 
(6)  Jesus  made  teaching  an  important  factor  in  his  final"  com- 
mission to  his  disciples:  "Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples 
of  all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you."  (7) 

In  this  great  work  of  salvation  by  education,  physical  train- 
ing occupies  an  important  place.  This  is  well  expressed  by  Dr. 
G.  Stanley  Hall:  "These  theorizations  even  in  their  extreme 
forms  have  been  not  only  highly  suggestive  but  have  brought 
great  and  new  enthusiasms  and  ideals  into  the  educational  world 
that  admirably  fit  adolescence.  The  motive  of  bringing  out 
latent,  decaying,  or  even  new  powers,  skills,  knacks  and  feats  is 
full  of  inspiration.  *  *  *  Now  the  ideals  of  religion  are  in- 
voked that  the  soul  may  have  a  better  and  regenerated  somatic 
organism  with  which  to  serve  Jesus  and  the  church.  Exercise  is 
made  a  form  of  praise  to  God  and  of  service  to  man.  *  *  * 
The  physical  salvation  thus  wrought  will  be,  when  adequately 
written,  one  of  the  most  splendid  chapters  in  the  modern  history 
of  Christianity."  (8) 


(I) 

(2) 

(3) 
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) 

Matt.  4:4. 
John  6:51. 
John  6:53. 
Luke  2:46 
Matt.  4:23. 
Matt.  7:29. 
Matt.  28  :ig-2o. 
Adolescence  Vol. 

i,  P.  i8q. 

38  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

"Muscles  are  in  a  most  intricate  and  peculiar  sense  the  or- 
gans of  the  will.  They  have  built  all  the  roads,  cities  and  ma- 
chines in  the  world,  written  all  the  books,  spoken  all  the  words, 
and  in  fact  done  everything  that  man  has  accomplished  with 
matter.  If  they  are  undeveloped  or  grow  relaxed  and  flabby, 
the  dreadful  chasm  between  good  intentions  and  their  execution 
is  liable  to  appear  and  widen.  Character  might  be  in  a  sense 
defined  as  a  plexus  of  motor  habits."  (i) 

Jesus,  himself,  was  a  good  teacher.  He  taught  many  sub- 
jects. For  him  life  was  a  great  school.  He  used  the  Socratic 
method.  He  was  a  good  questioner  and  made  men  think.  He 
stimulated  the  intellect,  the  emotions  and  the  will. 

j.      The  Work  of  the  Church 

The  church  has  been  slow  in  giving  education  its  true  place 
in  the  work  of  salvation.  The  reason  has  been  its  too  narrow 
idea  of  salvation.  The  best  method  of  saving  men  is  by 
training  the  children.  The  church  is  beginning  to  appreciate 
this  fact.  Practically  all  of  our  missions  now  make  educational 
work  fundamental. 

We  have  here  a  problem  similar  to  that  of  healing.  Many 
would  limit  spiritual  salvation  to  the  methods  used  by  Jesus. 
This  idea  misconceives  his  spirit  It  is  a  bondage  to  form  which 
Jesus  always  repudiated.  He  was  a  pioneer  and  set  in  motion 
ideas  and  principles  which  would  have  indefinite  expansion.  He 
would  rejoice  in  all  of  our  schools,  colleges  and  universities  as  a 
part  of  the  great  means  of  saving  men.  These  could  be  more 
efficient  in  their  saving  work  if  we  recognized  their  true  function. 
We  can  say  of  Jesus  as  he  said  of  Abraham:  "Your  father  Abra- 
ham rejoiced  to  see  my  day ;  and  he  saw  it  and  was  glad."  (2) 
He  expressed  the  necessity  of  progress  in  saving  work:  "Think 
not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets:  1  came  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill."  (3) 

How  is  education  related  to  sin?  The  ignorant  and  the 
undeveloped  are  most  apt  to  sin.  Arrested  development  is  the 

(1)  Ibid.  Vol.  I,  P  131. 

(2)  John  8:56 

(3)  Matt.  5:17- 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  39 

worst  form  of  sin.  Jesus  unsparingly  condemned  this:  "And 
this  is  the  judgment,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world  and  men 
loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light."  (i) 

VI.      Salvation  by  Correction 

1.  General  Meaning  and  Scope 

This  part  of  the  problem  of  salvation  is  directly  related  to 
men  as  sinners.  Man  is  transgressing  laws  in  his  thinking,  feel- 
ing, willing  and  doing.  Salvation  means  the  correction  of  all  his 
ways.  He  must  cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well.  The 
source  of  transgression  is  in  thought  and  feeling  and  will.  The 
remedy  must  deal  with  the  source.  Sin  does  not  mean  that  man 
has  no  capacity  or  ability.  It  means  that  his  powers  are  used  in 
wrong  ways.  The  differenee  between  a  good  man  and  an  evil 
man  is  not  that  one  has  ability  and  the  other  has  none.  For  the 
same  man  does  both  good  and  evil  and  employs  the  same  faculties. 

2.  Two  Essential  Elements 

This  radical  change  in  man  has  been  defined  as  conversion. 
It  has  held  an  important  place  in  the  doctrines  of  the  church. 
Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  speaks  of  it  as  follows:  "In  its  most  funda- 
mental sense,  conversion  is  a  natural,  normal,  universal  and  nec- 
essary process"  at  the  stage  when  life  pivots  over  from  an  auto- 
centric  to  an  heterocentric  basis."  "All  are  thus  born  twice, 
once  as  individuals  and  once  as  representatives  of  the  species." 
"The  external  types,  norms  and  symbols  of  conversion  show  it 
to  be  the  very  core  of  a  true  philosophy  of  human  history.  Many 
analogies  of  this  change  are  drawn  from  the  metamorphasis  of 
insects  and  here  biology  supplies  the  best  heuristic."  (2)  In  it 
two  essential  factors  are  involved: 

1.  The  will  to  obey  the  laws  of  life    and    the    commands    of 
God. 

2.  Knowledge  of  what  these  laws  and  commands  are. 
There  must  first  of  all  be  a  willingness  to  give  up  the    wrong 

way  and  accept  the  right  way.  This  is  the  moral  part.  At  first 
this  choice  may  be  very  general  and  vague  and  in  a  sense  cover 

(r)     John  3:19, 

(2)     Adolescence.     Vol    II,  P.  301,  304,  331. 


40  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

the  whole  life.  The  choice  becomes  clear  and  definite  as  the 
knowledge  of  what  is  right  and  wrong  becomes  definite.  Re- 
pentance is  not  a  single  act  but  a  continuous  process,  and  pro- 
ceeds from  the  general  to  the  specific.  In  this  connection  Dr. 
Hall  makes  the  following  important  statement:  "In  practice  the 
above  ideal  is  never  isolated  from  others.  Perhaps  the  most 
closely  associated  with  it  is  that  of  increased  volitional  control. 
Man  is  largely  a  creature  of  habit  and  many  of  his  activities  are 
more  or  less  automatic  reflexes  from  the  stimuli  of  his  environ- 
ment. Every  new  power  of  controlling  these  by  the  will  frees 
man  from  slavery  and  widens  the  field  of  freedom.  To  acquire 
the  power  of  doing  all  with  consciousness  and  volition  mental- 
izes  the  body,  gives  control  over  to  higher  brain  levels  and  de- 
velops them  by  rescuing  activities  from  the  dominance  of  lower 
centers.  Thus  mens  agitat  molem. "  (i) 

Knowledge  is  the  second  essential  element.  We  must  know 
the  laws  of  life  in  order  to  obey  them.  Progress  depends  upon 
the  increase  of  knowledge.  This  involves  the  whole  work  of  ed- 
ucation. 

j>.      Psychic  Processes 

How  does  this  change  take  place?  What  factors  are  in- 
volved? How  is  the  willingness  to  obey  secured?  There  must 
be  consciousness  of  transgression  or  conviction  of  sin.  The  in- 
dividual must  see  himself  as  he  really  is  in  character  and  conduct 
as  compared  with  the  ideal  standard.  Teaching,  preaching,  ob- 
servation and  command  all  help  to  convict  of  sin.  The  best 
means  is  a  perfect  and  holy  life.  A  sinful  man  in  the  presence 
of  the  living  and  concrete  laws  of  trutn  and  life  will  feel  as  Peter 
did  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  when  he  said:  "Depart  from  me  for 
I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord."  (2)  Jesus  is  the  most  powerful 
factor  in  conversion. 

Dr.  Hall  has  stated  the  problem  from  the  psychological 
point  of  view:  "The  Christian  solution,  if  we  interpret  it  in 
terms  of  modern  psychology  rather  than  in  those  of  dogma,  may 
be  thus  stated:  Having  tried  to  look  the  facts  of  our  departure 


(•;)     Adolescence,  Vol.  I.  P.  190. 
(i)     Luke  5:8. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  41 

from  nature  and  our  ideal  squarely  in  the  face  and  realize  how 
far  we  are  from  what  we  ought  to  be,  or  might  have  been  with 
other  antecedents,  we  shall  all,  even  the  best  of  us,  find  sooner 
or  later  that  our  imperfections  of  nature  and  nurture  are  too 
many  and  great  to  be  overcome  by  any  effort  we  can  possibly 
make.  Habits  and  instincts  are  too  much  for  our  will.  The 
good  we  can  do  is  impartial  or  lacks  spontaneity;  it  is  an  artifact 
we  have  to  force  upon  ourselves.  Therefore,  the  only  course  is 
to  stop  special  and  multifarious  striving  and  fall  back  on  more 
generic  and  unconscious  impulsion;  with  a  changed  heart  and  a 
new  affection,  having  fallen  in  love  with  righteousness,  surrender 
to  this  new  love;  make  it  supreme  and  complete;  let  it  have  free 
course,  striving  only  to  remove  obstacles;  feed  its  flame  by 
proper  exercise ;  fan  it  by  every  inspiring  example,  especially  by  the 
great  Exemplar;  for  love  is  as  old  as  life  itself  and  stronger,  and 
is  therefore  alone  capable  of  reconstructing  it  from  the  bottom." 

(0 

Desire  is  an  important  psychic  factor  in  the  process.  We 
desi  e  that  which  we  enjoy  and  appreciate.  We  desire  the  true, 
the  beautiful  and  the  good.  Jesus  called  it  hunger  and  thirst. 
It  is  developed  by  experience.  "O  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord 
is  good."  (2)  Desire  has  great  influence  over  faith.  What  we 
desire  we  believe  in. 

Faith  plays  a  great  role  in  the  process  of  salvation.  It  is 
that  exercise  of  the  soul  by  which  we  accept,  adopt  and  appro- 
priate that  which  we  approve  and  desire  to  make  our  own.  Im- 
agination is  an  important  element  in  it.  By  faith  the  distant 
comes  near,  the  future  becomes  present,  the  invisible  becomes 
visible,  the  abstract  becomes  concrete,  the  ideal  becomes  real. 
"Now  faith  is  the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  a  conviction 
of  things  not  seen."  (3) 

Forgiveness  is  associated  with    guilt.      It    is    the    feeling    of 
disapproval  by  ourselves,  by  other  men,   and  most  os  all  by  God. 
How  can  this  be  removed?     Only  by  repentance  and    confession. 
When  a  man  acknowledges  and  condemns  his  own  wrong  acts    or 

(  )     Adolescence.     Vol.  II,  P   314-415. 

(2)  PS.    34:8. 

(3)  Heb    ii  :i. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 


thoughts,  he  expresses  his  inner  honesty.  His  purpose  and 
choice  are  right.  This  removes  his  own  and  the  disapproval  of 
others.  Forgiveness  is  the  state  of  approval  based  on  righteous- 
ness in  the  heart,  which  exists  both  in  man  and  God.  It  puts 
the  individual  into  right  relations  with  God  and  men. 

4.      The  Person  and  Werk  of  Christ 

In  theology  Christ  has  held  the  chief  place  in  the  doctrine  of 
salvation.  The  doctrine  of  the  atonement  has  been  cardinal.  It 
has  been  made  to  misrepresent  the  character  of  God  and  the  work 
of  Christ.  Theologians  have  tried  to  explain  what  takes  place 
in  the  mind  of  God.  The  wiser  method  would  be  to  begin  with 
the  human  side.  These  should  have  remembered  Zophar's  ques- 
tions to  Job:  ''Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God?  Canst 
thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?"  (i)  Or  Isaiah's 
statement:  ''Seek  ye  Jehovah  while  he  may  be  found;  call  ye  upon 
him  while  he  is  near:  let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way  and  the  un- 
righteous man  his  thoughts  and  let  him  return  unto  Jehovah, 
and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him;  and  to  our  God  for  he  will 
abundantly  pardon.  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts, 
neither  are  your  ways  my  ways  saith  Jehovah.  For  as  the 
heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher  than 
your  ways  ,  and  my  thoughts  than  your  thoughts."  (2)  To  ob- 
tain a  true  idea  of  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  in  relation  to 
the  salvation  of  men  we  must  study  the  actual  facts,  seeking  to 
ascertain  just  what  the  personality,  the  life,  death  and  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  has  accomplished  and  how.  For  me  the  best  evi- 
dence of  his  divinity  is  his  life  and  words  and  deeds. 

I  find  no  suggestion  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  that  he  must 
die  to  satisfy  the  wrath  of  God  or  his  justice,  or  to  secure  the 
forgiveness  of  God  by  paying  a  price.  He  did  say  that  he  must 
die  at  the  hands  of  sinful  men.  The  doctrine  of  the  atonement 
would  make  forgiveness  impossible  in  the  true  sense.  It  is  based 
on  a  misconception  of  the  Old  Testament  idea  of  sacrifice.  W. 
Robertson  Smith  has  clearly  brought  out  this  fact  as  the  follow- 
ing statement  will  show:  "The  original  idea  of  Atonement  was 


(1)  Job  11:7. 

(2)  Isa.    55:  6-7. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  43 

that  of  a  living  union  of  the  worshipper  and  his  god.  It  was 
giving  and  receiving  life  and  was  based  upon  the  idea  of  kinship. 
The  idea  of  paying  a  price  came  much  later.  In  the  ancient 
world  the  gods  were  a  part  of  human  society.  There  was  one 
blood  and  life.  Piacular  sacrifices  are  thought  of  as  those  de- 
vised with  a  view  to  purchase  divine  forgiveness  for  sin.  This 
is  not  the  true  idea.  These  sacrifices  existed  long  before  there 
was  any  true  sense  of  sin.  The  laying  on  of  hands  was  origin- 
ally to  indicate  the  unity  of  life.  Christian  Theology  has  over- 
estimated the  ethical  element  in  the  Old  Testament  sacrifices  and 
specially  in  making  them  a  type  of  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross  and 
interpreting  the  cross  as  a  satisfaction  of  divine  justice.  The  idea 
of  divine  justice  was  small  with  the  ancients  as  compared  with 
that  of  kinship.  In  the  most  primitive  form  of  the  sacrificial 
idea,  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  was  not  used  to  wash  away  an  im- 
purity but  to  convey  to  the  worshippers  a  particle  of  holy  life." 

(i) 

Horace  Bushnell  was  among  the  first  theologians  to  grasp 
the  truer  idea  of  the  atoning  work  of  Christ.  He  says:  "Christ 
engages  to  bring  us  out  of  our  sins  and  so  out  of  their  penalties 
at  the  expense  of  great  suffering  and  even  death.  This  is  what 
any  good  being  does.  This  is  the  principle  of  love — to  take  up 
the  burdens  and  miseries  of  others — to  insert  itself  into  these. 
Love  does  not  ask  about  the  conditions  or  deserts  of  another. 
It  condemns  his  sin,  yet  tries  to  save  him  from  it.  He  makes 
sacrifice  to  do  this.  He  felt  and  sympathized  with  the  sick.  He 
also  healed  them  and  forgave  their  sins.  A  mother  loves  and 
suffers  with  her  child.  She  truly  bears  the  child's  pain  and  suffer- 
ing. A  friend  suffers  in  sympathy.  This  is  the  true  meaning  of 
Gethsemane.  We  all  know  the  meaning  of  vicarious  sacrifice. 
It  is  so  simple  and  natural,  yet  it  has  been  made  so  mysterious 
and  speculative."  (2) 

(/.)      The  Personality  of  Jesus 

First  of  all  we  should  get  th^  truest  possible  conception  of 
Jesus  as  he  was  in  his  human  life.  I  make  no  attempt  to  give  a 

(1)  The  Religion  of  the  Semites.  Ch    IV. 

(2)  The  Vicarious  Sacrifice,  Ch    I,  Ps   41,  42,  .48. 


44 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 


complete  picture,  but  merely  an  outline  of  essentials.  All  agree 
that  he  was  the  one  perfect  man.  We  can  never  fully  express  his 
personality.  He  was  unique.  He  was  indeed  the  first  born  of  a 
new  creation.  He  obeyed  the  laws  of  life  more  perfectly  than 
other  men.  He  knew  and  obeyed  the  mind  and  will  of  God. 
He  was  at  home  with  God,  his  Father.  He  lived  a  perfect  moral 
life.  He  conceived  the  ideal  human  society,  the  kingdom  of 
God.  He  recognized  the  ethical  basis  of  society,  that  love  is  the 
fulfilment  of  the  law.  He  taught  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  and  service  through  sacrifice.  This  is 
Beyschlag's  description  of  Jesus.  He  is  the  'spiritual  and  heav- 
enly man,'  the  man  in  whom,  as  distinguished  from  all  the  chil- 
dren of  Adam,  the  pneuma,  the  divine  principle  of  life,  is  the 
absolutely  determining  factor.  He  alone  is  man  as  God  in  his 
heaven  from  eternity  conceived  and  willed  him  to  be;  in  a  word, 
the  original,  ideal  man."  (i) 

(2.)     His  Relation  to  Men 

Jesus  devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  welfare  of  others.  He 
endeavored  to  get  others  to  follow  him.  He  showed  them  the 
true  nature  and  the  sure  consequences  of  sin,  the  ideal  life  and 
how  to  attain  it  for  themselves.  He  pictured  the  ideal  society, 
selected  twelve  men,  trained  and  inspired  them  with  his  spirit 
and  ideal  of  life,  taught  them  that  true  greatness  consists  in  sac- 
rifice and  service,  not  in  possessions,  that  love  is  the  fulfilment 
of  the  law.  Through  them  he  would  recreate  human  society. 
On  this  point  Beyschlag  has  this  to  say  of  Jesus:  "The  term 
'Second  Adam'  means  the  personality  of  Jesus.  But  it  means, 
too,  that  a  new  beginning  of  history  has  been  made  with  this 
man,  a  beginning  comparable  only  to  the  first  beginning  when 
God  created  man,  but  in  a  higher  and  indeed  in  an  opposite 
way.  As  Adam  in  himself  sums  up  the  whole  natural  earth-born 
life  of  humanity  and  is  the  archtype  of  all  men  on  their  lower 
sensuous  side,  the  author  of  sin  and  death  for  all,  so  Christ  is 
for  all  the  archtype  and  source  of  their  higher  spiritual  develop- 
ment, the  origin  of  righteousness  and  life  for  all."  (2) 

(1)  New  Testament  Theology,  Vol    II,   P  65. 

(2)  New  Testament  Theology,  Vol.  II,  P   64. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  45 

(j.)      The  Significance  of  His  Death 

The  death  of  Christ  has  been  the  central  point  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement.  The  higher  moral  feelings  reject  the 
doctrine  in  its  older  form,  because  it  misrepresents  the  character 
of  God  and  the  true  nature  of  Christ's  work  in  saving  men.  His 
death  has  a  great  moral  and  psychic  value.  This  we  must  dis- 
cover. 

The  death  of  Jesus  was  the  natural  and  inevitable  result  of 
his  life  and  teaching,  coming  in  conflict  with  minds  so  entirely 
different.  He  forsaw  its  necessity.  He  must  either  change  his 
course  or  meet  the  consequences.  The  same  thing  would  have 
happened  to  any  other  man  under  the  same  conditions.  The 
great  significance  of  his  death  was  not  merely  in  the  fact  of 
death,  but  in  the  character  of  the  man  who  died,  and  of  the 
people  who  put  him  to  death.  He  was  a  perfect  man  who 
obeyed  every  law  and  command  of  God,  who  devoted  his  whole 
life  to  the  salvation  and  service  of  others,  who  proved  himself  to 
be  the  son  of  God.  His  enemies  were  ruled  by  malice  and 
hatred.  The  power  of  his  death  was  in  the  moral  relations  of 
these  two  types  of  men.  It  was  according  to  psychic  forces  and 
laws. 

(4.)      The  Effect  of  His  Death  on  Men 

What  was  this  effect?  It  made  men  think  and  feel  as  no 
other  event  in  history  ever  has.  It  revealed  the  inner  personality 
and  the  truth  of  his  teaching.  This  event  revealed  men  to  them- 
selves and  to  each  other.  Why  had  they  put  to  death  a  perfect 
and  good  man?  Not  because  he  deserved  it,  but  because  they 
willed  it.  Why  had  they  willed  it?  Because  they  were  moved 
by  an  evil  will  and  desire.  They  were  convicted  of  sin. 

It  also  produced  in  them  a  clearer  moral  vision.  They  be- 
gan to  see  that  his  way  would  bring  health  and  happiness,  while 
their  way  could  bring  only  suffering  and  death.  They  saw  the 
need  of  a  change  in  mind  and  conduct.  Many  have  made  this 
change.  They  have  accepted  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  as 
their  ideal  of  life.  The  process  is  still  going  on  in  men.  When 
an  individual  comes  into  vital  contact  with  Jesus  spiritual  forces 
begin  to  operate  in  him.  He  becomes  a  new  man  in  Christ 


46  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

Jesus.  He  becomes  a  conscious  imitator  of  Jesus.  Imitation  is 
one  of  the  most  profound  means  in  the  propagation  of  ideas  and 
character.  Walter  Bagehot  has  shown  in  his  Physics  and  Poli- 
tics how  civilization  has  spread  through  imitation.  In  this  way 
religions  and  revolutions  have  spread.  Christianity  is  no  excep- 
tion. The  process  is  psychic. 
VII.  Salvation  by  Reconciliation 

The  problem  of  salvation  concerns  man  both  as  an  individ- 
ual and  as  a  member  of  society.  Man  can  not  save  himself  by 
withdrawing  from  society,  as  many  have  thought.  A  hand  can 
not  be  saved  by  cutting  it  off.  Jesus  teaches  just  the  opposite. 
He  would  save  the  body  by  removing  the  offending  member. 
He  says:  "If  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it  out 
and  cast  it  from  thee  *  *  *  and  if  thy  right  hand  causeth 
thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it  is  profit- 
able for  thee  that  one  of  the  members  should  perish  and  not  thy 
whole  body  go  into  hell."  (i)  The  true  idea  is  that  right  rela- 
tions must  exist  between  individuals  as  members  of  society.  So- 
ciety is  an  organism.  Here  we  have  the  real  problem  of  recon- 
ciliation. 

Jesus  treated  this  part  of  the  problem  under  the  title  "The 
Kingdom  of  God."  It  holds  an  important  place  in  his  teaching. 
At  the  very  beginning  of  his  ministry  we  hear  him  say:  "Repent 
ye  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  (2)  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  the  organization  of  human  society  according  to  the 
laws  of  God  and  the  spirit  of  Christ.  The  subjective  principle 
of  it  is  love;  the  objective  expression  of  this  is  righteousness. 

Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn  characterizes  it  thus:  "The  idea  of  the 
kingdom,  then,  is  primary.  He  comes  to  found  or  create  it. 
His  instrument  is  preaching  or  teaching.  He  defines  it  by  var- 
ious terms.  It  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  contradistinction  to 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  It  is  the  realm  of  healing,  harmony 
love  and  beneficence.  It  is  a  kingdom  of  the  truth.  It  is  pres- 
ent; men  may  enter  it,  are  even  within  it;  the  terms  of  entrance 
are  obedience  to  the  word,  or  the  childlike  spirit.  It  comes 

(r)     Matt    5:  29-30. 
(2)     Matt.  4:17. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  47 

without  observation,  spreads  quietly  like  leaven,  grows  like  seed. 
It  is  ethical  in  character;  to  seek  it  is  to  seek  the  righteousness 
of  God;  to  pray  for  its  coming  is  to  ask  that  the  will  of  God  may 
be  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven."  (i) 

Dr.  William  N.  Clarke  makes  this  statement:  "To  Jesus, 
however,  the  kingdom  was  no  national  organization,  no  political 
institution:  it  was  the  spiritual  reign  of  God  in  the  actual  life  of 
men.  Negatively  it  involved  the  deliverance  of  men  from  sin; 
positively,  the  doing  by  men  of  the  will  of  God."  (2) 

Professor  Adolph  Harnack  describes  it  as  follows:  "If  any 
one  wants  to  know  what  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  coming  of 
it  means  in  Jesus.'  messages  he  must  read  and  study  his  parables. 
The  kingdom  of  God  comes  by  coming  to  the  individual,  by 
entering  into  his  soul  and  laying  hold  of  it.  True,  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  the  rule  of  God,  but  it  is  the  rule  of  the  holy  God  in 
the  hearts  of  individuals;  it  is  God  himself  in  his  power."  (3) 

"But  he  goes  further.  It  is  by  his  healing,  above  all  by  his 
forgiving  sin,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  comes.  This  is  the  first 
complete  transition  to  the  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
the  power  that  works  inwardly.  As  he  calls  the  sick  and  the 
poor  to  him,  so  he  calls  sinners  also,  and  it  is  this  call  which  is 
all-important.  Here  for  the  first  time  everything  that  is  exter- 
nal and  merely  future  is  abandoned;  it  is  the  individual,  not  the 
nation  or  the  state  which  is  redeemed;  it  is  new  men  who  are  to 
arise,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  at  once  their  strength 
and  the  goal  at  which  they  aim."  (4) 

"It  is  a  supernatural  element  alone  that  ever  enables  us  to 
gt.t  at  the  meaning  of  life;  for  natural  existence  ends  in  death. 
But  here  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  eternal,  entered  into  time. 
This  is  Jesus'  message  of  the  kingdom.  His  whole  doctrine  can 
be  conceived  as  a  message  of  the  kingdom."  (5) 

All  of  these  statements  make  the  kingdom  of  heaven  include 
the  physical,  moral  and  spiritual  health  and  blessedness  of  men 


(1)  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theol.     P.  516. 

(2)  An  Outline  of  Christian  Theol.  P.  276 

(3)  What  is  Christianity?  P.  60. 

(4)  Ibid.  P.  65.  66 

(5)  Ibid,  P   67.  68 


48  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

in  their  human  relations.  They  make  •  salvation,  or  freedom 
from  sin,  its  essential  condition.  Growth  and  development  are 
also  conditions.  Sin  also  involves  man's  relation  to  his  environ- 
ment. Men  must  live  in  right  relations  with  nature,  with  men 
and  with  God.  The  commandments  and  the  golden  rule  demand 
this.  The  consequences  of  transgressions  are  all  the  sickness, 
poverty,  vice,  crime,  injustice,  misery,  and  unhappiness  in  the 
world.  Reconciliation  is  the  establishment  of  right  relations  be- 
tween men  and  nature,  men  and  men,  and  men  and  God.  This 
includes  the  whole  social  organism,  the  family,  the  state,  and  all 
industrial  and  economic  activities. 

There  is  a  type  of  sin  which  is  the  primary  cause  of  all  so- 
cial evils.  It  is  due  to  a  lack  of  discrimination  between  the  cos- 
mic and  spiritual  orders.  Man  belongs  to  both,  yet  chiefly  to 
the  spiritual  order.  The  lower  order  treats  men  as  things,  as 
property,  and  measures  them  by  their  possessions.  It  is  this 
failure  to  recognize  the  spiritual  value  of  men  that  is  the  cause 
of  so  much  of  the  transgression  of  human  rights.  In  essence 
the  kingdom  of  God  belongs  to  the  spiritual  order.  This  is  why 
Jesus  issued  his  great  call:  "Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  Jesus  was  the  first  great  teacher  to  make 
this  distinction  clear  and  emphatic.  He  reverses  the  old  order 
and  puts  man  first.  Many  of  his  sayings  bring  out  this  fact: 
"Ye  can  not  serve  God  and  mammon/'  "Is  not  the  life  more 
than  food  and  the  body  than  raiment?"  "Seek  ye  first  his  king- 
dom and  his  righteousness  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you."  "For  what  shall  a  man  be  profited  if  he  gain  the 
whole  world  and  forfeit  his  life."  (i) 

Professor  Harnack  puts  the  matter  in  a  strong  way:  "The 
value  of  a  truly  great  man,  as  I  saw  it  put  lately,  consists  in  his 
increasing  the  value  of  all  mankind.  It  is  here,  truly,  that  the 
highest  significance  of  great  men  lies;  to  have  enhanced,  that  is, 
to  have  progressively  given  effect  to  human  value,  to  the  value 
of  that  race  of  men  which  has  risen  up  out  of  the  dull  ground  of 
nature.  But  Jesus  Christ  was  the  first  to  bring  the  value  of  every 
human  soul  to  light, and  what  he  did  no  one  can  any  more  undo."  (2) 

(1)  Matt   6:  24,  25,  33;  26:26 

(2)  What  is.  Christianity?  P    73 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  49 

"The  highest  estimate  of  man's  value  is  based  on  a  trans- 
valuation  of  all  values.  In  asking:  'What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?'  he  put 
a  man's  value  as  high  as  it  can  be  put."  (i) 

The  distinction  between  man  as  as  object  and  as  a  person  is 
fundamental.  The  failure  to  recognize  it  turns  the  world  upside 
down.  It  makes  selfishness  supreme,  love  and  righteousness  and 
obedience  to  the  commands  impossible.  For  how  can  a  man 
love  his  neighbor  as  himself  if  his  neighbor  is  merely  a  thing,  a 
piece  of  property?  The  salvation  of  society  or  true  reconcilia- 
tion must  begin  by  treating  men  as  personal  beings  of  infinite 
value.  Only  thus  can  the  golden  rule  be  put  in  practice. 

The  process  of  reconciliation  is  two-fold.  It  is  both  sub- 
jective and  objective.  It  includes  both  individual  development 
and  the  correction  and  improvement  of  environment.  The  two 
must  proceed  together,  for  there  is  a  mutual  reaction  between 
them.  Society,  itself,  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  individ- 
ual's environment.  It  affects  the  individual  more  than  he  affects 
society.  A  few  great  leaders  and  originators  start  new  move- 
ments in  society.  Montesquieu  makes  this  keen  observation: 
"In  the  infancy  of  nations  man  forms  the  state;  in  their  maturity 
the  state  forms  the  man."  This  is  a  law  of  society.  Jesus  was 
a  great  originator  and  leader.  Ideals  and  principles  once  es- 
tablished are  propagated  by  the  influence  of  society  upon  each 
individual.  The  individual  is  bound  to  become  what  his  race 
or  tribe  is.  The  Hindu  can  not  get  out  of  his  caste.  Personal 
environment  is  the  greatest  factor  in  the  whole  process  of  salva- 
tion. Individuals  of  each  succeeding  generation  are  born  into  a 
better  environment  for  health,  education,  politics,  industrial  and 
economic  conditions,  moral  and  religious  influences.  This  is  the 
method  of  evangelization.  The  missionary  at  first  builds  up  a 
small  Christian  society.  This  society  will  change  each  individ- 
ual who  comes  into  it.  Jesus  illustrates  it  in  the  parable  of  the 
leaven:  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a 
woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  it  was  all 
leavened."  (2) 

(1)  Ibid  P   72. 

(2)  Matt.  13:33. 


50  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

In  the  past  both  theology  and  the  church  have  emphasized 
the  individual  and  ignored  the  social  factor.  The  church  teaches 
that  the  individual  is  changed  by  personal  contact  with  Christ. 
This  is  true,  but  it  is  largely  Christ  in  society. 

Right  here  is  the  fundamental  error  of  socialism.  The  so- 
cialist puts  chief  emphasis  upon  a  right  environment.  His  error 
is  in  making  physical  more  important  than  personal  environment. 
He  demands  better  economic  and  industrial  conditions.  He  is 
right  in  his  demand,  but  wrong  in  thinking  that  this  will  solve 
the  social  problem.  This  will  not  change  the  character  of  men. 
It  will  not  remove  selfishness  and  moral  transgression,  nor  create 
love  and  obedience.  The  wealthy  classes  are  not  delivered  from 
selfishness,  vice,  crime  and  sorrow  by  their  better  material  con- 
ditions. Many  forms  of  evil  are  enhanced  by  the  possession  of 
wealth.  Society,  itself,  is  the  environment  which  really  changes 
men  in  their  character.  A  savage  tribe  placed  in  a  highly  civil- 
ized material  environment,  with  industrial  equipment,  schools, 
churches,  hospitals,  libraries,  art  museums,  printing  presses, 
would  not  be  changed  into  civilized  men.  A  savage  tribe  placed 
in  a  civilized  community  would  be  gradually  transformed  by  per- 
sonal contact  with  civilized  men. 

Jesus  saw  and  emphasized  the  importance  of  personal  and 
social  environment.  This  is  the  meaning  of  much  of  his  teach- 
ing concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Until  the  socialist  sees 
this  truth  more  clearly,  he  will  not  be  able  to  solve  the  social 
problem.  "For  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of 
the  things  which  he  possesseth."  (i) 

Two  erroneous  assumptions  are  often  made,  the  one  in  the 
interest  of  religion  and  the  other  in  the  interest  of  socialism. 
Many  good  people  believe  that  the  world  could  be  converted  in  a 
short  time  if  a  sufficient  number  of  missionaries  would  go  into  the 
field.  Many  socialists  assert  that  the  social  problems  would  find 
immediate  solution  if  the  state  would  only  adopt  the  program  of 
socialism.  Both  assumptions  are  based  on  false  premises.  They 
are  psychologically  impossible. 

The  religious  assumption  overestimates  the  power  of  the 
individual  and  of  free-will  and  underestimates  the  importance  of 

(i)     Luke  12:15. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION 


social  environment.  No  individual  is  independent  of  his  ante- 
cedents and  social  environment.  Every  man  is  a  product  of  his 
race  and  age.  The  world  can  not  be  converted  in  one  genera- 
tion. Social  environment  changes  the  individual.  Christian 
social  environment  is  essential  to  Christian  progress.  The  proof 
of  this  is  the  missionary  work  of  the  world  in  all  ages.  The 
church  must  proceed  according  to  psychological  laws.  "The 
earth  beareth  fruit  of  herself:  first,  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  (i) 

The  sociological  assumption  overestimates  the  power  of 
material  environment  and  undervalues  the  individual  and  per- 
sonal environment.  Material  environment  can  not  quickly 
change  the  nature  and  character  of  men.  This  change  must 
come  mainly  through  the  influence  of  society  upon  its  individ- 
uals. A  new  material  environment  requires  a  new  society  to  op- 
erate it.  It  is  the  old  question  of  new  wine  and  new  bottles. 
New  bottles  do  not  make  new  wine  and  vice  versa.  Yet  the  two 
belong  together  and  serve  each  other  best.  Personal  environ- 
ment most  be  created  first.  Right  society  must  precede  right 
social  conditions.  In  the  process  of  growth  these  will  help  each 
other. 

The  question  of  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  his  environ- 
ment has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  work  of  religious  reviv- 
als. The  individual  is  not  the  same  person  in  a  revival  meeting 
that  he  in  ordinary  associations.  The  two  environments  are 
radically  different  in  psychic  phenomena.  The  real  problem  is 
how  to  conserve  the  psychic  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
spiritual  atmosphere  when  he  gets  back  into  his  ordinary  associa- 
tions. His  psychic  states  of  the  meeting  become  abandoned  in 
his  ordinary  associations.  This  is  why  so  many  converts  fall 
back  and  fail  to  make  the  new  life  permanent.  The  new  wine 
needs  the  new  bottles.  The  church  must  provide  a  spiritual  en- 
vironment for  the  new  life  of  her  converts. 

I  realize  the  greatness  of  the  problems  considered  in  this 
thesis.  In  this  treatment  I  have  made  no  attempt  to  exhaust  the 
svbjects  or  say  the  final  word  about  them.  The  important  thing 

(i)     Mark  4:28. 


52  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE 

however  is  the  contribution  of  truth  contained  in  it,  however 
small.  I  submit  this  thesis  for  the  sake  of  the  truth  which  it 
contains  and  the  direction  which  it  points  for  further  study  on 
these  subjects. 


DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION  53 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  list  of  books,  most  of  them  complete,  has  been  read  in  the  preparation 
of  this  thesis.  Many  other  works  and  articles  have  been  consulted. 

EDUCATION 

Haslett,  Rev.  S.  B.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Pedagogical  Bible  School,  1903;  Home,  Prof. 
H.  H.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Philosophy  of  Education,  1904;  Rosenkranz,  J.  K.  F.,  Philosophy 
of  Education,  1903,  tr.  by  A.  C.  Brackett;  Spencer,  Herbert,  Education— Intellectual, 
Moral  and  Physical,  1900. 

ETHICS 

Spencer,  Herbert,  The  Data  of  Ethics,  1879;  Sutherland,  Alexander,  The  Origin 
and  Growth  of  the  Moral  Instinct,  1898;  Westermark,  E.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Origin  and 
Development  of  Moral  Ideas,  2  Vols.,  1906. 

PHILOSOPHY 

Benn,  A.  W.,  The  Greek  Philosophers,  2  vols.,  1882;  Kiilpe,  O.,  Introduction  to 
Philosophv.tr.  by  Pillsbury  and  Tichener,  1901;  Paulsen,  F  ,  Introduction  to  Phillosophy, 
tr.  by  F.  Thilly,  1895;  Spencer,  Herbert,  First  Principles,  4th  Edition,  1880;  Ueberweg, 
Dr  Friederich,  The  History  of  Philosophy,  2  vols.,  tr.  by  G  S.  Morris,  1886;  Weber, 
Prof  Alfred,  History  rf  Philosophy,  tr  by  F.  Thilly,  1896 

PSYCHOLOGY 

Calkins,  Prof  Mary  W  ,  An  Introduction  to  Psychology,  1901;  Cutlen,  Rev.  G. 
B  ,  Ph.  D.,  The  Psychological  Phase  of  Chiistianity;  Hall,  Pres  G  Stanley,  L  L.  D  , 
Adolescence,  2  vols.,  1904;  James,  Prof  William,  Ph  D.,  Principles  of  Psychology, 
2  vols  ,  1890;  -  — ,  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology,  1899;  Janet  P  M  F  ,  Major 
Symptoms  of  Hysteria,  1907;  Kierkegaard,  VonSoren,  Zur  Psychologic  der  Sunde,  1890; 
Stout,  G.  F.,  Analytic  Psychology,  2  vols,,  1896;  Wundt,  Prof  Wilhem,  Grundzuge 
der  Physiologischen  Psychologic,  3  vols  ,  5th  Edition,  1902 

RELIGION 

Biederman,  Guslav,  Religious  Philosophic,  1887;  Crane,  Rev  Frank,  D  D  ,  The 
Religion  of  Tomorrow,  1899;  Drummond,  Prof  Henry,  L.  L.  D.,  The  Natural  Law  in 
the  Spiritual  World,  1888;  Everett,  Prof  C  C  ,  D.  D  ,  The  Psychological  Elements  of 
Religious  Faith,  1902;  Frazer,  James,  Adonis,  Attis,  and  Osiris, — Studies  in  Oriental 
Religions;  Hamack,  Prof  Adolph,  What  is  Christianity?— tr  byT.  B  Saunders,  1903; 
Hastings  Bible  Dictionary,  Articles  on  Atonement,  Jesus  Christ,  Sin,  Salvation;  HofTding, 
Harold,  The  Philosophy  of  Religion,  tr  by  B  E  Myer,  1»»)6;  Hall,  Newman,  D  D  , 
Atonement,  the  Fundamental  Fact  of  Christianity;  lames,  Prof  William,  The  Varieties 
of  Religious  Experience,  1902;  Kaftan,  Julius,  D  D  ,  The  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
tr.  by  G  Ferries,  1899;  Muller,  Julius,  The  Christian  Doctrine  of  Sin,  2  vols  ,  tr  by 


54  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECT  OF  THE  DOCTRINES  OF  SIN  AND  SALVATION 

W.  Urwick,  1885;  Pratt,  Prof  J.  R  ,  Ph  D  ,  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief.  1907; 
Sabatier,  L  A  ,  Outlines  of  a  Philosophy  of  Religion,  Based  on  Psychology  and  History, 
tr  by  J  A.  Seed;  Smith,  Prof.  W.  Robertson,  L.  L  D  ,  The  Old  Testament  in  the 

Jewish  Church,  1883;  ,  The  Prophets  of  Israel,  1882;  ,  The  Religion  of 

the  Semites,  1889;  The  World's  Parliament  of  Religions,  2  vols  ,  1893. 

SOCIOLOGY 

Bagehot,  Walter,  Physics  and  Politics,  1880;  Buckle,  Henry  T.,  History  of  Civiliza- 
tion in  England,  1903;  Carver,  Thomas  N.,  Studies  in  Sociology;  Darwin,  Charles 

The  Origin  of  Species, ,  The  Descent  of  Man,  1874;  Giddings,  Prof.  F  H  ,  Ph.  D  , 

The  Principles  of  Sociology,  1904;  Hawkins,  Prof.  F  H  ,  Ph.  D  ,  Adolphe  Quetelet  as 
Statistician,  1908;  Spencer,  Herbert,  Principles  of  Sociology,  3  vols.,  190  <;  -  — , 
Studies  of  Sociology,  1882;  Tarde,  Gabriel,  Laws  of  Imitation,  1903;  tr.  by  E.  C. 
Parsons;  Ward,  L.  F.,  Principles  of  Sociology.  1896;  -  — ,  Pure  Sociology,  1903. 

THEOLOGY 

Beyschlag,  Dr.  Willibald,  New  Testament  Theology,  2  vols  ;  Bushnell,  Rev. 
Horace,  D.  D.,  The  Vicarious  Sacrifice;  Campbell,  Rev.  R.,  J.,  D.  D.,  The  New  The- 
ology; Clarke,  Rev.  W.  N.,  D  D  ,  An  Outline  of  Christian  Theology,  1898;  Fairbairn, 
Rev.  A.  M.,  D.  D  ,  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  1893;  Holtzman,  Dr.  H. 
J.  Newtestamentliche  Theologie,  2  vols .,  1897;  Martensen,  Dr.  H  ,  Christian  Dogmatics, 
tr.  by  Rev.  Wm.  Urwick,  1886;  Oehler,  Dr.  G  F.  Theology  of  the  Old  Testament, 
1885,  tr.  by  George  E  Day;  Ritchl,  Prof.  Albrecht,  Christian  Doctrine  of  Justification, 
and  Reconciliation,  tr.  by  Mackintosh  and  Macauley;  Weiss,  Dr  Bernhard,  Biblical 
Theology  of  the  New  Testament,  2  vols  ,  1885;  Van  Oosterzee,  J.  J  ,  D.  D  ,  Christian 
Dogmatics,  2  vols  ,  tr  by  John  W.  Watson,  1872 


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